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
Jul 29, 2021 • Subscribe
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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…
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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 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.
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.
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
Home Sweet Home (我が家は樂し, Noboru Nakamura, 1951)
Struggling family’s sudden windfall ends in disappointment but does not dent their goodness in Noboru Nakamura’s warmhearted shomingeki
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まとめる
Bringing things together - How to Japanese - February 2024
Bury Me Deep / わたしを深く埋めて / Watashi o fukaku umete (1963)
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A couple who met briefly in Manchuria are reunited in Kobe but find their joy short-lived amid the vagaries of the post-war society in Kon Ichikawa’s tragic romance.
Miss Oyu (お遊さま, Kenji Mizoguchi, 1951)
Oppressive social codes and repressed desire provoke a tragic love triangle in Mizoguchi’s adaptation of the story by Tanizaki.
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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…
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Bereaved parents are confronted by the unresolved past when the woman who killed their daughter appeals her sentence in Anshul Chauhan’s empathetic courtroom drama.
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