A determined young woman seeks a way out of poverty in Mikio Naruse’s biopic of author Fumiko Hayashi.
Jul 28, 2024 • Subscribe
More like this
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
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
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
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…
A Wife’s Heart (妻の心, Mikio Naruse, 1956)
When plans to start a new business go awry, a dejected wife finds herself at a crossroads in Mikio Naruse’s martial drama.
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
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
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.
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.
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
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.
Primark UK: Sailor Moon A5 Notebook
Sailor Moon A5 Notebook Details Primark UK: £2.50 CHECK AVAILABILITY HERE You can count on...
Naruse A Master of the Japanese Cinema - Booklet
Articles by Audie Bock, Hideko Takamine and Kihachi Okamoto (19 Pages )
ABYStyle Europe: Premium A5 Notebook Luna & Artemis
ABYStyle Europe: Premium A5 Notebook Luna & Artemis Premium A5 Notebook (Ships within Europe): €14.99...
GEE: Sailor Moon R Spiral Tab Notebook Journal
Sailor Moon R Sailor Guardians Tab Journal Details BoxLunch USD $14.90: BUY HEREGEE: BUY HEREAmazon:...
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…
In a Ring of Mountains (中山七里, Kazuo Ikehiro, 1962)
A wandering adventurer is drawn into intrigue on encountering a woman who looks exactly like his late first love in Ikehiro’s New Wave jidaigeki
Shinobi no Mono: Band of Assassins (1962)
Yamamoto expertly utilizes the game of disguises, traps, gadgets, concealed passages, hidden stairs, and trapdoors, to offer an allegorical tale of the post-war subject’s conundrum
Destiny’s Son (斬る, Kenji Misumi, 1962)
A wandering son finds himself in the middle of intrigue on learning the sad secrets of his birth in Kenji Misumi’s elliptical, elegiac tale of death and the…
Osho /王将 (‘King of shogi’, 1962)
Obscure Japanese Film #106 Rentaro Mikuni This Toei production stars Rentaro Mikuni as Miyoshi Sakata (1870-1946), an illiterate sandal-...
Record of a Woman Doctor (女医の記録, Hiroshi Shimizu, 1941)
A doctor gains a new perspective on life after being sent to a remote rural village in Hiroshi Shimizu’s gentle social drama.
Tokyo Bay (東京湾, Yoshitaro Nomura, 1962)
Two old war buddies find themselves on opposite sides of the law in Nomura’s sprawling journey through the post-war underworld
Sanjuro (椿三十郎, Akira Kurosawa, 1962)
The cynical drifter finds himself offering fatherly advice to idealistic but hot-headed samurai youth in Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo followup.
The Whale God (鯨神, Tokuzo Tanaka, 1962)
A young man wrestles with the destructive legacy of vengeance in a traditional fishing village on the verge of eclipse in Tokuzo Tanaka’s parabolic drama.
Anime Before Astro Boy (Japanese Animation 1946 - 1962)
Iconic anime movies and TV shows released before the original Astro Boy in 1963. These include TOEI's first movies like Panda and the Magic Serpent and Alakazam the…
Back to the Wharf (风平浪静, Li Xiaofeng, 2020)
A wounded young man’s attempts to start over in the shadow of his crime are doomed to failure in Li’s moody, fatalistic neo-noir.
Uraroji Romanya Monogatari (裏路地浪漫屋物語)
Uraroji Romanya Monogatari (裏路地浪漫屋物語) is a collection of Yuri stories by creator Kumosuzume. It’s a nice collection, with a variety of tones. The title story tells of a…
Afterschool Anglers Club (放課後アングラーライフ, Hideo Jojo, 2023)
A lonely young woman learns to trust to again thanks to her high school fishing club friends in Hideo Jojo’s gentle seaside drama.
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) review [The Godzilla Project]
A splendid Godzilla narrative that delivers thrilling kaiju action while elegantly exploring the impact of the rise of capitalism and consumerism on Japanese society and the traumatic truth…
Worlds Apart (違国日記, Natsuki Seta, 2024)
A young woman discovers a different side to life after moving in with her eccentric aunt following the death of her parents in Natsuki’s Seta’s delicate yet huge…
The Wandering Earth II (流浪地球2, Frant Gwo, 2023)
Humanity resolves to choose hope in the face of oncoming apocalypse in Frant Gwo’s sequel to the hit schi-fi drama
Mount Fuji on Film: From Naruse to Godzilla to Anime
I’ve always been intrigued by 19th century Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai’s series of woodblock prints entitled, “36 Views of Mount Fuji,” which indeed offers Mount Fuji from a…
Bi-Weekly Booty: Mio Naruse from Shinmai Maou no Testament
You know how I feel about this show, but damn if the main girl doesn’t bring the goods. The Bi-Weekly Booty is Mio Naruse from Shinmai Maou no…
Travels of Hibari and Chiemi: The Tumultuous Journey (1962) review
“This film remains, after all these years, a highly enjoyable narrative that succeeds to please the spectator with heart-warming light-heartedness, comical action, and beautiful musical momen…
My Anniversaries (オレの記念日, Kim Sungwoong, 2022)
Documentarian Kim Sungwoong follows the relentlessly cheerful Shoji Sakurai who spent 29 years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit.
Murakami in the Asahi Shimbun – 日記から – 1982
Year 1: Boobs, The Wind, Baseball, Lederhosen, Eels, Monkeys, and Doves Year 2: Hotel Lobby Oysters, Condoms, Spinning Around and Around, 街・町, The Town and Its Uncertain Wall, A Short Piece on the Elephant that Crushes Heineken Cans Year…
This Year’s Love (今年の恋, Keisuke Kinoshita, 1962)
The intense friendship between a pair of underachieving boys sparks romance between their mismatched siblings in Keisuke Kinoshita’s charming romantic comedy.
In Search of Mother (瞼の母, Tai Kato, 1962)
A lonely yakuza longs to reconnect with mainstream society by finding the mother who was forced to abandon him in Tai Kato’s hugely moving jidaigeki.
Tengu Priest (お坊主天狗, Yasushi Sasaki, 1962)
Disparate denizens of Edo are united in one thing in Yasushi Sasaki’s light hearted jidaigeki, Tengu Priest (お坊主天狗, Obozu tengu), revenge. Like many jidaigeki, what they really want…
The Hunter’s Diary (猟人日記, Ko Nakahira, 1964)
A serial philanderer’s life is upended when his conquests start turning up dead in Ko Nakashira’s twisted noir.
Like Father and Son (拨浪鼓咚咚响, Bai Zhiqiang, 2020)
A grief-stricken truck driver and a left behind child bond in a shared sense of loneliness while forced onto an awkward roadtrip in Bai’s neorealist drama
Bumming in Beijing: The Last Dreamers (流浪北京, Wu Wenguang, 1990)
Wu Wenguang’s seminal indie documentary follows a group of bohemian artists eventually scattered by the events of 1989
Episode 50, "ワンピースポッドキャスト50回記念華麗なショー"
On the fiftieth episode of the One Piece Podcast we bring you everything you can ever ask for. A recap of the convention, a manga recap, an anime…
Being Two Isn’t Easy (私は二歳, Kon Ichikawa, 1962)
A wise child critiques the post-war society in Kon Ichikawa’s charmingly surreal familial drama.
Episode 50, "ワンピースポッドキャスト50回記念華麗なショー"
On the fiftieth episode of the One Piece Podcast we bring you everything you can ever ask for. A recap of the convention, a manga recap, an anime…
Episode 50, "ワンピースポッドキャスト50回記念華麗なショー"
On the fiftieth episode of the One Piece Podcast we bring you everything you can ever ask for. A recap of the convention, a manga recap, an anime…
Brave: Gunjo Senki (ブレイブ -群青戦記-, Katsuyuki Motohiro, 2021)
A history buff and archery enthusiast finds himself in his element when his school is thrown back to the Sengoku era in Katsuyuki Motohiro’s timeslip drama.