Synopsis:

Sounds patently absurd, but that’s just the jump off point. The film is really about obsession; and golf, being one of the world’s most obsessive sports, seem a likely setting. How many times have you seen someone practice their golf swing in public – versus their bowling approach or breast stroke?  Why do I keep finding golf balls in my vegetable garden?

The film begins with an organization – garment manufacturers rather than yakuza, though there’s really little difference between them. They run the aspiring spokeswoman through the Tiger Woods golf training course (meaning intensive and rigorous to the point of abusive), and she wins! Her relationship with her Svengali-like mentor intensifies at this point, and she obtains wealth and fame and a luxurious house. Her neighbor, however, must have seen Play Misty For Me too many times, because she becomes an obsessive stalker, eventually competing with Svengali for total control of the life of our heroine. Actually, she’s more doomed protagonist in a noir melodrama than conventional leading lady.

As Michael Den Boer points out in the text essay, the most compelling performance is by Kyôko Enami (The Fall of Ako Castle) as the stalker. Director Seijun Suzuki, who’s notable films had included Youth Of The Beast, Gate Of Flesh, and Tokyo Drifter, was fired from Nikkatsu following Branded To Kill. A Tale of Sorrow And Sadness was his comeback feature following a stint in television.