Based on a ’70s manga by Japanese master Osamu Tezuka, a bored writer’s affair with his beguiling young muse gets the live-action treatment in “Tezuka’s Barbara.” Primarily concerned with the story’s excursions into erotic surrealism and the occult while playing down its social and political themes, this handsomely packaged item isn’t deep or meaningful but does present a visually arresting account of middle-aged male ennui colliding with uninhibited and irresistible female energy.
Partly inspired by Offenbach’s fantasy opera “The Tales of Hoffmann,” “Barbara” also heavily references French symbolist poet Paul-Marie Verlaine. It’s in a grimy Shinjuku pedestrian subway that writer Yosuke Mikura hears Verlaine’s “Autumn Song” recited by Barbara , a drunken, disheveled and astoundingly beautiful street girl who recognizes Yosuke and has read all his work.
With observations such as “there is no demon as pathetic as a good woman,” Yosuke’s occasional voiceover narration shows him to be at best a selfish chauvinist and at worst an outright misogynist. True to his word, Yosuke has no real love for fiancée Shigako , a rich girl who wants him to compromise his principles by publicly endorsing her father Satomi , a stodgy old conservative politician.