When plans to start a new business go awry, a dejected wife finds herself at a crossroads in Mikio Naruse’s martial drama.
Jul 2, 2024 • Subscribe
More like this
Wife (妻, Mikio Naruse, 1953)
An unhappily married woman contemplates independence but struggles to see herself as anything other than a “wife” in Naruse’s bitter marital drama
Lightning (稲妻, Mikio Naruse, 1952)
An aspirant young woman envisages a different life herself than the dissatisfactory marriages of her mother and sisters in one of Mikio Naruse’s more hopeful drama.
Flowing (流れる, Mikio Naruse, 1956)
The denizens of a moribund geisha house contemplate visions of independence in post-war Japan Mikio Naruse’s thriving ensemble drama.
A Woman’s Place (女の座, Mikio Naruse, 1962)
The young women of post-war Japan struggle to define themselves in a changing society in Mikio Naruse’s uncharacteristically hopeful family drama
The Angry Street (怒りの街, Mikio Naruse, 1950)
A sociopathic student takes revenge on a changing society by seducing wealthy women in Mikio Naruse’s brooding noir.
Sound of the Mountain (山の音, Mikio Naruse, 1954)
A failed patriarch resolves to set his unhappily married daughter-in-free in Mikio Naruse’s post-war marital drama
Mikio Naruse: Adventures on Harumi Island
I got a pleasant surprise recently when I watched Mikio Naruse’s AUTUMN HAS ALREADY STARTED (1960). At a key point in the narrative, the two child protagonists living…
Repast (めし, Mikio Naruse, 1951)
An unhappily married woman fed up with the drudgery of her existence considers other options but finally concludes there are none in Naruse’s bleak melodrama
A Wanderer’s Notebook (放浪記, Mikio Naruse, 1962)
A determined young woman seeks a way out of poverty in Mikio Naruse’s biopic of author Fumiko Hayashi.
Late Chrysanthemums (晩菊, Mikio Naruse, 1954)
Four former geishas struggle to find their place in a changing society in Miko Naruse’s melancholy melodrama.
Untamed (あらくれ, Mikio Naruse, 1957)
A rebellious woman strives for independence in a patriarchal society but nevertheless finds herself hamstrung by feckless men in Naruse’s Taisho-era drama
Sincerity (まごころ, Mikio Naruse, 1939)
When the daughter of a poor family leapfrogs that of a rich one to be named top of the class, it exposes a series of hypocrisies and contradictions…
Mother (おかあさん, Mikio Naruse, 1952)
A teenage girl struggles to understand her self-sacrificing mother in Mikio Naruse’s subversive take on the hahamono
Five Men in a Circus (サーカス五人組, Mikio Naruse, 1935)
A 5-piece jinta brass band ends up performing as ringers at strike-stricken circus in Naruse’s melancholy anti-authoritarian comedy
Hit and Run (ひき逃げ, Mikio Naruse, 1966)
A grief-stricken mother hatches a desperate plan of revenge against the woman who killed her son in Mikio Naruse’s dark psychological drama.
Wife of a Spy (スパイの妻, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2020)
An upperclass housewife finds herself pulled into a deadly game of espionage in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s dark exploration of the consequences of love
The Approach of Autumn (秋立ちぬ, Mikio Naruse, 1960)
A small boy finds himself trapped between the new society and the old in Mikio Naruse’s often deceptively cheerful childhood drama.
Love is Lost / 銀心中 / Gin shinju (‘Silver Double Suicide’, 1956)
Obscure Japanese Film #179 Jukichi Uno and Nobuko Otowa Tokyo, c. 1942. Sakie (Nobuko Otowa) and her husband Kiichi (Jukichi Uno) run a ...
Crossroad (死の十字路, Umetsugu Inoue, 1956)
An adulterous industrialist’s life unravels after he accidentally kills his wife and tries to cover up the crime in Umetsugu Inoue’s gothic noir.
Summer Storm / 夏の嵐 / Natsu no arashi (1956)
Obscure Japanese Film #112 Masahiko Tsugawa and Mie Kitahara Director Ko Nakahira’s first film following his famous ‘sun tribe’ movie Craz...
Pretty Heart (心裏美, Terry Ng Ka-wai, 2022)
An idealistic teacher finds herself questioning her views on education while confronting her traumatic past in Terry Ng Ka-wai’s gentle drama.
While Yet a Wife / 妻の日の愛のかたみに / Tsuma no hi no ai no katamini (1965)
Obscure Japanese Film #141 Ayako Wakao Chieko (Ayako Wakao) and Kitahara (Eiji Funakoshi) are country schoolteachers who get married and a...
生成AIの台頭と知的活動の隔絶の心配
AIが発達しても好奇心旺盛な人間、自己顕示欲が強くこだわりが強い創作者、頭の良さがずば抜けている人たち、天邪鬼、変人、狂人は創作や研究において頭角を現し続けるであろう。これは変わらないと思う。しかし頭のねじが壊れていない、その他大勢の方々は知的探求において受け身に甘んじたり思考が単純化しそうで怖い。 趣味の世界で没頭できる余裕がある人は大丈夫だろうけど、駆け出しの十代や日々の生活でかつかつな人たちからすればじっくり研究したり徐々に技を磨く工程が「贅沢な道楽」となってしまうのではないだろうか。 努力せずともそこそこ面白い想像や探究が可能とするAIだが、思考や論理組み立ての基礎が脆弱な段階からAIに依存するとカンペだよりと同じ結果になりそう。計算機を使う前に基礎的な計算方法を知らないとミスが発生しても対応に苦慮するのと同じである。計算機やAIをけなしているのではなく、それを使いこなす教育の不十分さと人間の怠慢さを危惧しているのだが…… また創作や研究への情熱を理解できない人はその重要性を「有効性」「生産性」や「人気」でしか図ることができなくなり、ますます人間の特権である遊び心の領域が退化する不安が先走る。杞憂であればよいのだが。 そもそも知的作業を営む人間の数がごく一部になってしまい、最先端にいる人とその他大勢の間に大きな隔たりが生まれると中世ヨーロッパのように「ラテン語の出来る人とできない人」のように認識能力においてかなり決定的な差異が発生しかねない心配をしている。 中世においてラテン語ができれば古代の知識や遠方の人間との交流を可能とする学術の言語だった。ラテン語ができれば自らの研究が共有されやすく、他者の知的探求を認知しやすくなる。いっぽうラテン語ができない人間は他者（権力者その他）による解説に依存することにある。 これまで人は創作や研究における競争が行き過ぎると、その内容ではなく人格攻撃やプラットフォームでの上げ足取りや人気取りの小手先を重要視する傾向がある。もちろんこれは兼光の個人的な印象でしかないが、日米を比較したり、これまでのメディア業界の歴史を振り返るとそのような事象が目立つのだ。巨大な統一プラットフォームでの勝ち組負け組形成による不均衡の増大より、複数のプラットフォームで色々な競争があったの方が文化は豊かになると思っている。 プラットフォームの集約と生成AIの問題は別だが、片方がもう片方を悪化させる可能性は否めないのではないだろうか。 すごい作品ばかりが立ち並ぶ領域にいきなり立たされると人は委縮しやすい。最初は身近な箱庭がいい。家庭の中で、学校で、同人誌即売会の中で――ローカルで技を磨き、やがて本当に上を目指す人はより大きなステージへ。 しかし生成AIから手軽に研究・創作できると最初からグローバルでの競争となるために、気軽に身近な場所で下手の横好きから創作・研究が始められず、挫折する人が増えそうな気がして仕方ない。 これがすべて50代中盤のおっさんの身勝手な心配であればいいのだが……
Sound in the Mist (霧の音, Hiroshi Shimizu, 1956)
A botanist continues to visit the same mountain lodge each Harvest Moon in search of lost love in a late melodrama from Hiroshi Shimizu
Wandering Shore / 流離の岸 / Ryuri no kishi (1956)
Obscure Japanese Film #180 Terumi Niki Sachiko Murase Chiho (Terumi Niki) is a young child left alone in the country to be raised by her...
本心
With「本心」, Keiichiro Hirano (平野 啓一郎) has written a big, old-fashioned novel of ideas. It is set in the 2040s in a Japan in which a tenuous daily life…
本心
With「本心」, Keiichiro Hirano (平野 啓一郎) has written a big, old-fashioned novel of ideas. It is set in the 2040s in a Japan in which a tenuous daily life…
Telepathy (以心伝心) and Other Coincidences (奇遇)
I was writing to a former intern at Japan Subculture Research Center, Fresca, and asked her to send me her thesis to read---just as she mailed me. I…
The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka (華岡青洲の妻, Yasuzo Masumura, 1967)
A mother and a wife become locked in an absurd battle of one-upmanship volunteering as test subjects for a husband’s experiments in Yasuzo Masumura’s ironic relationship drama
Naruse A Master of the Japanese Cinema - Booklet
Articles by Audie Bock, Hideko Takamine and Kihachi Okamoto (19 Pages )
Naruse’s FLOWING (1956): The Fall of a Geisha Household
The more films by Mikio Naruse I see, the more I feel he belongs in the pantheon of great Japanese directors alongside the three I have long considered…
A Radiant Heart — Mélie
“It means you’re gonna have to struggle, just like everyone else does. We all have things we have to push through.” Near the middle of Radiant’s second season,…
![Featured image for Rodan (1956) review [The Godzilla Project]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20230325/1679711411.56080.88972.jpg)
Rodan (1956) review [The Godzilla Project]
Honda delivers a bleak and disconcerting outlook on the optimistic post-war reparative economic growth.
South Korean Animations (1956 - 2021) | WooKong
A compilation of the South Korean animated works from 1956 to 2021. This is a supplementary video for "A Brief History of South Korean Animation" https://youtu.be/uQDFI30strY. Be sure…
Sazae-san / サザエさん (1956)
Obscure Japanese Film #245Chiemi EriKamatari Fujiwara and Nijiko Kiyokawa Sazae (Chiemi Eri) is a young woman still living at home with her father (Kamatari Fujiwara), mother (Nijiko Kiyokawa) and two younger siblings.…
Otafu Susume 10 – My Wife’s Awakening (Links Awakening)
Wes has Jenn play the Switch remake of Links Awakening. They discuss the differences between the old and new, the Japanese and English, and modern games.
Silent Naruse: STREET WITHOUT END (1934)
Last year I saw eleven films directed by Mikio Naruse, raising to 24 the number of films I’ve seen by him. So far this year I’ve seen two…
A Wife Confesses (妻は告白する, Yasuzo Masumura, 1961)
A young widow finds herself on trial not exactly for her husband’s murder but the fact of her survival in Masumura’s noirish courtroom drama
A-Yokai-A-Day: The First Wife’s Revenge and The Miraculous Power of the Lotus Sutra
Many of the tales in Shokoku hyakumonogatari have story elements that are found in other famous folk tales. This book was published in the 17th century, but it…
Hyakkano – 19 – A Beautiful Heart
While the tenth girlfriend is teased at the fourth wall-destroying start of this episode, the first half gets the Rentarou Family off the school roof for once and…
A Heart-ful Valentine’s Day
With Valentine's Day approaching, Krystallina offers some anime-related gifts to consider giving in this week's Please Save My Money.
Two Wives (妻二人, Yasuzo Masumura, 1967)
A conflicted social climber becomes disillusioned with his comfortable life on reencountering his uni girlfriend in Yasuzo Masumura’s dark mystery drama.
Yojimbo (用心棒, Akira Kurosawa, 1961)
A cynical ronin plays warring factions off against each other to save a moribund silk town in Akira Kurosawa’s samurai western.
Like A Rolling Stone (出走的决心, Yin Lichuan, 2024)
A middle-aged woman’s decision to walk out on her abusive marriage and pursue a life of ultimate freedom on the road went viral in 2022 making her an…
Early Spring (早春, Yasujiro Ozu, 1956)
A dejected office worker and his disappointed wife battle the emptiness of the “salaryman dream” in Ozu’s embittered marital drama
Thousand Autumns (山河剑心) Impression **Spoilers**
“Yan Wushi had walked a path full of blood and corpses. He did not believe in the good nature of humanity. Even more so, he did not believe…
Pierce (刺心切骨, Nelicia Low, 2023)
A young man finds himself conflicted when his older brother is released from prison in Nelicia Low’s intense fraternal drama.
A Rainbow at Every Turn / 虹いくたび / Niji ikutabi / (1956)
Obscure Japanese Film #132 Machiko Kyo and Ayako Wakao Before I begin, I should point out that, although I don’t usually write a synopsis ...
The Heart of Hiroshima (愛と死の記録, Koreyoshi Kurahara, 1966)
Sayuri Yoshinaga was the top female star at Nikkatsu in the mid-1960s. Together with her regular co-star Mitsuo Hamada, she starred in a series of hit youth romances…
Love Does Not Equal Trust – Saikey Studios Releases Sweet Wife’s Affair
On December 8th Saikey Studios released "Sweet Wife's affair" a translation for a 2023 Atelier Sakura game.