The young women of post-war Japan struggle to define themselves in a changing society in Mikio Naruse’s uncharacteristically hopeful family drama
May 16, 2021 • Subscribe
More like this
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.
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.
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
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.
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
Five Sisters / 女の暦 / Onna no koyomi (‘A Woman’s Calendar/Almanac’, 1954)
Obscure Japanese Film #177 Kyoko Kagawa Yoko Sugi Their parents now deceased, two adult sisters now live together in their old family ...
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.
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.
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
Woman of Design (その場所に女ありて, Hideo Suzuki, 1962)
Post-war women find themselves constrained by a relentlessly patriarchal society in Hideo Suzuki’s workplace melodrama
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.
The Goddess Chronicle: A Woman’s Ambiguous Place in Japan’s Creation Myth
To appreciate The Goddess Chronicle, you need to be familiar with The Kojiki, the oldest recorded mythical origin story of Japan. (Kirino provides a good summary in part II, chapters…
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.
Snake Woman’s Curse (怪談蛇女, Nobuo Nakagawa, 1968)
A venal landlord is haunted by the legacy of feudal injustice in Nakagawa’s eerie Meiji-era ghost story
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.
Himegami no Miko (姫神の巫女)
by Rachel Gruber, Guest Reviewer As a teen growing up in the 2000s, my introduction to yuri anime naturally came in the form of the “big three:” Strawberry…
Kohaku no Kijo (琥珀の貴女)
Today, I am conflicted. ^_^ Kohaku no Kijo (琥珀の貴女) is a short story collection by Higashikawa Mizo and, like most short story collections, it has some tropes of…
Supermarket Woman (スーパーの女, Juzo Itami, 1996)
A veteran housewife uses her long experience to save a failing supermarket while standing up for wholesome small-town values in Itami’s post-Bubble farce
Radio Queen (ラヂオの女王, Shigeo Yagura, 1935)
The conflict between warring neighbours of differing dispositions deepens when their children want to get married in Shigeo Yagura’s modernising comedy.
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.
People are Still a Woman’s Best Work
The AD Police Files is set in the same world as Bubblegum Crisis, differing from that more renowned anime by including much darker stories. It still features humanoid…
Woman of Tokyo (東京の女, Yasujiro Ozu, 1933)
A loyal sister finds her tremendous sacrifice rejected by an unforgiving and conservative society in Yasujiro Ozu’s silent melodrama
She is me, I am her (ワタシの中の彼女, Mayu Nakamura, 2022)
A gentle sense of haunting echoes through four tales of pandemic-era Tokyo in Mayu Nakamura’s ethereal anthology.
The Woman in the Rumour (噂の女, Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)
A mother and daughter find themselves deceived by the same man, each hemmed in by realities which cannot be altered in Kenji Mizoguchi’s touching melodrama.
Naruse A Master of the Japanese Cinema - Booklet
Articles by Audie Bock, Hideko Takamine and Kihachi Okamoto (19 Pages )
Koudou Ryou no Seizana Hibi, Volume 1 (黄道寮の星座な日々)
One again, this review comes with a story. I was standing in Animate in Shibuya and saw a book I had been meaning to read for a while,…
Koudou Ryou no Seizana Hibi, Volume 2 (黄道寮の星座な日々)
In Volume 1, a young woman is sent to the Zodiac Dormitory by her sister with the admonition to “Take care of Alice.” And so, in Koudou Ryou…
Movie Review: A Quiet Place
As part of my Spooktober movie marathon, I recently delved into the heart-pounding world of suspense and survival with A Quiet Place. A Quiet Place exceeded my expectations.…
Higehiro – 10 – A Warm Place
While Yoshida does his level best to hide it, Mishima and Hashimoto can tell he’s devastated by Sayu’s imminent departure, and how he’s mitigating it by trying to…
Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway, High School Girls
Onna x a Onna Umakuikanai Renai Essay parlor, Volume 1 (女×女のうまくいかない恋愛エッセイ parlor)
Onna x Onna Umakuikanai Renai Essay parlor, Volume 1 (女×女のうまくいかない恋愛エッセイ parlor) by Fujio, has had a long journey from there to here. This manga began more than a…
“BIRDIE WING Golf Girls’ Story” – It’s A Woman’s World
Welcome to a world where women rule. Where handsome young men serve as toy boys, middle-aged men just exist to be ripped off, and schools’ golf coaches are…
Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga Review – A Woman’s Story
Did you know that Blue Exorcist was created by a woman? Her name is Kazue Kato and she started writing Blue Exorcist in 2009. Female authors are not…
“BIRDIE WING Golf Girls’ Story” – It’s A Woman’s World
Welcome to a world where women rule! Where handsome young men serve as toy boys, middle-aged men just exist to be ripped off, and schools’ golf coaches are…
Six Singing Women (唄う六人の女, Yoshimasa Ishibashi, 2023)
A man finds himself trapped in a strange place after travelling to the mountains in the wake of his estranged father’s death in Yoshimasa Ishibashi’s surreal dra
A-Yokai-A-Day: The Woman’s Bōrei from Mihogasaki, Suruga Province
Our yōkai tonight is another bōrei, or ghost, although not in the traditional sense of a spooky white dead person who hunts you down and kills you. This…
A-Yokai-A-Day: How a Woman’s Obsession Became a Snake in Tōsa Province
Tonight's story deals with a common theme in Shokoku hyakumonogatari: obsession. The Japanese word used in these stories is 執心, and it refers to the kind of improper…
A Place Further Than the Universe
By Zoe Crombie. Kimari is a high school student teetering on the edge of experience, wanting to live while she’s young but needing the right push to do…
Review: A Place Called Silence (2024)
A Place Called Silence 默杀 China, 2024, colour, 2.35:1, 118 mins. Director: Ke Wenli 柯汶利 [Sam Quah]. Rating: 6/10. Serial-killer whodunit centred on a girls’ high school is…
Along the Sea (海辺の彼女たち, Akio Fujimoto, 2020)
A migrant worker from Vietnam is faced with her lack of possibility after discovering she is pregnant while living undocumented in Fujimoto’s unflinching social drama
Gundam Aerial Rebuild: Anime and Gunpla Full Reveal! #水星の魔女
The following may contain spoilers for episode 12 of Gundam the Witch from Mercury. I just got off watching the first part finale for Gundam the Witch from…
Gundam Aerial Rebuild: Anime and Gunpla Full Reveal! #水星の魔女
The following may contain spoilers for episode 12 of Gundam the Witch from Mercury. I just got off watching the first part finale for Gundam the Witch from…
EVERYDAY EVA Episode 20: A Woman’s Lust, A Mother’s Love | Mecha March
As Dr. Akagi tries to reconstruct Shinji’s body from outside the entry plug, Shinji plunges into the world of his mind.
Great Pretender – 12 – The Unfathomable Subtleties of a Woman’s Heart
The con moves to London, with Makoto spearheading a revenge scam against art appraiser James Coleman. It starts with Abby approaching him and asking to be his protege,…
Yuki Yuna is a Hero: A Sunny Place
“Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Recap Chapter”