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
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.
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
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.
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 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 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
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
Shiver 戦慄せしめよ (2022) Director: Toshiaki Toyoda
Shiver 戦慄せしめよ, by director Toshiaki Toyoda, is a music film that presents performances by Koshiro Hino and the taiko drumming group KODO in a visually dazzling way. Shiver 戦慄せしめよ (2022)…
Shigoto no Nochi Dakishimete (仕事の後は抱きしめて)
Aota Yui is a young woman with a dream – she wants to be a chef. To get there, she needs to be accepted by the restaurant’s Taisho.…
Brief Thoughts On: Luger Code 1951
Luger Code 1951 is an alternate history action anime with design work by Medaka Box creator Akira Akatsuki.
"Can I Say 温めお願いします at a Convenience Store?" #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
まとめる
Bringing things together - How to Japanese - February 2024
やめる to stop VS とめる to stop
No post summary was provided.
The Idiot (白痴, Akira Kurosawa, 1951)
A pure soul is destroyed by the selfishness and duplicity of the post-war society in Kurosawa’s snowbound adaptation of the Dostoyevsky novel.
Bury Me Deep / わたしを深く埋めて / Watashi o fukaku umete (1963)
Obscure Japanese Film #133 Jiro Tamiya Nakabe (Jiro Tamiya) is a lawyer returning to Tokyo after a long holiday in Kyushu. In his absenc...
あっためて vs あたためて #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
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…
Nightshade Flower (夜来香, Kon Ichikawa, 1951)
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.
Naruse A Master of the Japanese Cinema - Booklet
Articles by Audie Bock, Hideko Takamine and Kihachi Okamoto (19 Pages )
Itoshii Koishi, Volume 3 (いとしこいし)
Hina is a high school senior with a secret -she’s dating an older woman. She wants very much to share that secret with her friends, she just needs…
Goukaku Tame no! Yasashi Sankaku Kakei Nyuumon ( 合格のための！ やさしい三角関係入門)
Mayuki is determined to get into the school of her choice to be close to the girl she likes, her old sempai on the basketball team, Akira. But…
Film Analysis: People Will Talk (1951) | Mankiewicz’s Critique of Groupthink & McCarthyism
While People Will Talk, starring Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain, was billed under the romantic comedy genre with tinges of domestic drama surrounding pregnancy out of wedlock, director…
Junpaku no yoru / 純白の夜/ (‘Pure White Nights’, 1951)
Obscure Japanese Film #161 Michiyo Kogure Ikuko (Michiyo Kogure) is a young woman happily married to Tsunehiko (Seizaburo Kawazu), a banke...
iyashikei 癒し系
A blog about Japanese words in anime and manga, with romaji and explanations.
"Can I Say したい Instead of ほしい?" #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
The Real Thing (本気のしるし, Koji Fukada, 2020)
A bored salaryman begins to chase the real thing after saving a distressed woman from an oncoming train in Fukada’s beautifully elliptical 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…
The Real Thing 本気のしるし Dir: Koji Fukada (2020)
The Real Thing 本気のしるし Dir: Koji Fukada (2020) is an absorbing and addictive thriller about ascertaining the authentic aspect of a relationship and persona.
A Look At – For Elise -エリーゼのために-
Hioki is an incompetent, shiftless salaryman, stuck grinding in a thankless job at his company. He has a crush on coworker Chitose, but keeps his feelings to himself.…
Basic Japanese Sentence Structure No. 18 やめる #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
December (赦し, Anshul Chauhan, 2022)
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.
Naruse Akira to Ikkai Yaretara Ore wa Mou Shindemo Ii / If I Could Do It with Akira Naruse Once, I’d Be Okay with Dying by Kumo
There is almost nothing about Naruse Akira to Ikkai Yaretara Ore wa Mou Shindemo Ii / If I Could Do It with Akira Naruse Once, I’d Be Okay…
One Cut of the Dead / カメラを止めるな！
(Warning: this review contains spoilers about the structure of One Cut of the Dead, which I don’t think detract from enjoyment of the film.) One Cut of the…
Ai ni Airashi Itoshi Anata (愛に愛らし愛しいあなた)
Suzuki Yufuko’s Ai ni Airashi Itoshi Anata (愛に愛らし愛しいあなた) was not at all what I expected it to be. No, scratch that. It was exactly everything I expected it…
The Evaporated: 神隠し(かみかくし）Gone with the Gods –On Air now
People have a habit of vanishing in Japan---even hundreds of years ago, it happened often enough that myths were created to explain these sudden disappearances. 神隠し (kamikakushi)--to be…
The Evaporated: 神隠し(かみかくし）Gone with the Gods –On Air now
People have a habit of vanishing in Japan---even hundreds of years ago, it happened often enough that myths were created to explain these sudden disappearances. 神隠し (kamikakushi)--to be…
I Quit, Being “Friends” (友達やめた。, Ayako Imamura, 2020)
Director Ayako Imamura turns the camera on herself and her sometimes awkward relationship with a friend who struggles with communication
神隠し(かみかくし）Gone with the Gods (an original Podcast) coming IN 2022
People have a habit of vanishing in Japan---even hundreds of years ago, it happened often enough that myths were created to explain these sudden disappearances. 神隠し (kamikakushi)--to be…
~ni shite ～にして - Meaning in Japanese
The meaning in Japanese of ~ni shite ～にして. Examples and grammar.