The original Yellow Kid was a popular American comic strip character from the
end of the 19th century, appearing in Richard F. Outcault’s Hogan’s
Alley. A strange looking child shaved bald (a measure against
head lice) with big ears, buck teeth, and dressed in a hand-me-down yellow
nightdress, the Yellow Kid was the unlikely hero of the lower classes in Outcault’s biting
satire of urban American life.
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Outcault's original 19th century Yellow Kid |
The conceit of Tetsuya Mariko’s film Yellow Kid (イエローキッド, 2010), is that 100 years after
Outcault stopped drawing the Yellow Kid, a Japanese manga-ka named Hattori (Ryo
Iwase) published his own version of the Yellow Kid under the pseudonym Iga Taro in which a down-and-out
street kid transforms himself into a powerful boxer. Just
as the original comic strip colourfully incorporated images and ideas from
American pop culture such as advertising signs and vaudeville, Mariko’s film
blends live action drama with colourful illustrations from the Yellow Kid manga
which the director drew himself.
The central character, Shiro Tamura (Kaname Endo), has little going
for him in life. Orphaned at a young
age, his grandfather took charge of his upbringing until he also passed
away. Unable to hold down a job, Tamura
lives in a decrepit house with his senile grandmother and tries to get by on her
meagre pension. Inspired by Hattori’s
manga, Tamura clings to the one ray of hope in his life: training at the local
boxing club.
When Hattori comes to the boxing club in search of inspiration for a
sequel to Yellow Kid, it gives Tamura new hope that he can make something of
himself. The boxer who had inspired
Hattori in his earlier work, Mikuni (Kazuki Namioka), is not only no longer boxing but also living
with Hattori’s ex-girlfriend Mana (Mari Machida). He eventually settles on Tamura as his new
model for the Yellow Kid, but Tamura’s fragile mental state is pushed to its
limits by the thug Emoto (Hideki Tamai) and the line between what is real and what is not real begins to blur.
Yellow Kid explores the world of people on the verge of falling
between the cracks. Directionless kids with
no family support. Elderly people
without appropriate nursing care. Disasters
just waiting to happen. Although there
is little cheer in this film, it is strangely compelling due in a large part to
the terrific performances of the actors and the fascinating colour palette of
the film which mimics the vibrant hues of the manga and associates certain
colours with certain characters (Tamura/yellow, Hattori/red, etc.). The tension simmering in Tamura slowly builds
throughout the film and explodes in a final half hour that is not for the faint
of heart. It’s quite impressive for a
debut feature film, and promises more good things to come from Tetsuya
Mariko.
Check out Tom Mes of Midnight Eye interviewing Tetsuya Mariko about Yellow Kid at
the IFFR 2010:
Director:
Tetsuya Mariko
Starring:
Shiro Tamura (Kaname Endo)
Hattori (Ryo Iwase)
Mana (Mari Machida)
Mikuni (Kazuki Namioka)
Emoto (Hideki Tamai)
Boxing club owner (Denden)
The event was sponsored by Nippon Connection:
Catherine Munroe Hotes 2011