The Temple of Wild Geese

The Temple of Wild Geese (1962) blends Drama elements. Top cast includes Ayako Wakao, Masao Mishima, and Isao Kimura. The plot follows a central conflict that grows in scope as the film progresses.

Actor: Ayako Wakao • Genre: Drama movies

Satoko is a mistress by trade or fate: when her master, the silkscreen artist of the Kohoan Temple in Kyoto, dies, she is given to the temple's lascivious head priest Kikuchi. She is drawn to a melancholy young acolyte, Jinen, who has observed the profligacy of his cruel master and Satoko's utter dependence on the man. Jinen is both fascinated and disturbed by Satoko's interest in him; he is similarly caught between loathing of Kikuchi and of the dark circumstances of his birth and his own moral weakness. The story unfolds in a dreamlike manner—a flashback inspired by a now-infamous image on a silkscreen in the souvenir shop at the so-called Temple of the Wild Geese.