Page of Madness

The film was directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa, a pioneering figure in Japanese cinema. He actually funded the film by selling his own house and formed a collaborative group of avant-garde artists known as the Shinkankakuha (School of New Perceptions). This group included famous writers like Yasunari Kawabata, who helped write the screenplay.

After its initial release in 1926, the film was screened in Europe but eventually faded into obscurity and was considered completely lost for decades. Miraculously, director Teinosuke Kinugasa found a print of his own film stored in a tea tin in his garden shed in 1971. The film was then restored and finally shown to global audiences decades later.

The entire film is set inside a mental institution, focusing heavily on the subjective, hallucinatory experiences of its patients. It tells the story of a former sailor who takes a job as a janitor at the asylum to be near his estranged, mentally ill wife. The avant-garde setting allows for bizarre, surreal imagery rather than a traditional linear narrative.

No, because it is a silent film, it was originally accompanied by live musicians in the theater, and no official synchronized score was attached to the original print. However, when the restored version was released in the 1970s, director Teinosuke Kinugasa commissioned a contemporary, avant-garde musical score. This modern electronic and jazz score perfectly complements the film's experimental visual style.