Alternate Best Actor 1964: Eiji Okada in Woman in the Dunes

Eiji Okada did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Niki Junpei in Woman in the Dunes.

 

Woman in the Dunes is a masterful film about a school teacher becoming trapped in a dwelling at the bottom of a sand dune where a widow lives. 

I'll admit that brief description doesn't really do the film justice in terms of its overall achievement which is particularly mesmerizing in its idiosyncratic vision of director Hiroshi Teshigahara. A vision that was notably nominated for best director, which say what you want on the academy overall, they deserve some kudos for recognizing this achievement. Now is this a director's film, I would say so, it is hard not to, however the nature of the film I think in terms of what makes it truly great, rather than just great, is the human factor is ever prevalent. This is found within Eiji Okada's central performance as the school teacher Niki Junpei. This as we discover him participating in his hobby, alone, as he walks sand dunes in a secluded area looking for insects. Okada's performance here is one defined by a general affability and most of all curiosity in these moments. He evokes a man just enjoying his little hobby with an innate fascination for these creatures and his environment. There's a low key charm he brings to his performance befitting just a likable man. This effectively establishing then really are any man that his Junpei will be during the film as local villagers come upon him and advise he takes shelter at the bottom of a sand dune where a widow (Kyōko Kishida), who lost her family, lives. 

Okada's performance initially carries the same curiosity as he had before in this new situation. There is no alarm as he interacts with the woman rather Okada shows a genuine interest in this strange state of hers and just a general cordiality in his rather light delivery towards her. At this point Okada naturally creating what most viewers state would be in this situation and naturally crafts this surrogate within the experience. This being an essential element when Junpei discovers he cannot freely leave the dune on his own and discovers the widow, and now he, are essentially slaves to the local village who want sand harvesters. Okada's work then is terrific by the way that it completely allows us to be within this situation. A situation certainly symbolic in itself, however the film is great by working both in that sense while still being effectively literal as strange as the situation seems. Okada's work is fundamental in this as he always portrays a real person going through this struggle. Making initially for a kind of hero for us as we see in him the desperation in his attempts to escape and even the dogged sense of hope that sustains itself initially. He brings us so effectively into this mindset by so bluntly creating reality within the situation as the man tries to find a way out, but one way after another he finds himself back where he has started without gaining much of anything for it. 

His form of respite only coming in his interactions with the widow which is one of the most fascinating aspects of this film. This as Okada's and Kishida's chemistry really isn't anything normal as befitting of the situation. There is warmth certainly in there at times, but this is not a traditional romance, or even necessarily a romance at all. Their moments of intimacy, the most intimacy, have almost a functional even desperate quality about them. Their solace is together, but their solace isn't as two people in love, but rather two people finding comfort within a mutually dependent situation. Their interactions are with understanding but also that certain detachment. This as the woman is seemingly comfortable within the state, to the extent she can be, while Okada shows still that combination of overt frustration and a waning hope. This when he speaks towards surely people from his city will be looking for him, Okada's delivery is as a man who both believes it and doesn't believe at the same time. This as he hopes this will be the case but in his eyes there is the constant nagging sense that he is truly stuck within this situation despite his continued attempts. Eventually as more time goes by Okada's work naturally creates the sense of the frustrated resignation but also this strange calm. This as we have clashing moments. One of trying to appease his captors through some strange pornographic display, where he plays basically he male animal of a zoo. Okada successfully realizing this moment by playing it as base hunger as much as possible, not for the sex but rather the hope of getting to see the ocean again. This against as we see the man's attempt for escape by trapping a crow to use a messenger that essentially leads him to experiments and a hobby. Here that Okada portrays the most contentment of a man with a distraction in life that he is most comfortable with and in no way lacking with conflict. A man who has found his peace within the situation. In Okada's performance he so honestly portrays this as a state of life that it is actually rather disturbing because of how natural of a choice it seems. The strength of this work is that it keeps an essential anchor within the story. As much as the story means more than it appears, it also means what it shows, and the striking nature of that is found within Okada's performance. His performance that is a constant reality of a man in this seemingly unbelievable situation. The unbelievable situation becoming startlingly believable because Okada only presents us a real person going through all this, not just a symbol of one.