A doctor gains a new perspective on life after being sent to a remote rural village in Hiroshi Shimizu’s gentle social drama.
Sep 30, 2022 • Subscribe
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Sayon’s Bell (サヨンの鐘, Hiroshi Shimizu, 1943)
An indigenous woman becomes a martyr for the Japanese empire after drowning in a river while carrying the possessions of a Japanese policeman in an unabashed propaganda effort…
Image of a Mother (母のおもかげ, Hiroshi Shimizu, 1959)
A little boy’s difficulties in accepting his new stepmother express an anxiety about the changing nature of the family in Hiroshi Shimizu’s familial melodrama.
I Live in Fear (生きものの記録, Akira Kurosawa, 1955)
An elderly man’s nuclear paranoia threatens to tear his family apart in Kurosawa’s post-war social drama.
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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
Children of the Beehive: What Happened Next (その後の蜂の巣の子供たち, Hiroshi Shimizu, 1951)
In an interesting piece of meta docufiction, Hiroshi Shimizu revisits the Beehive a few years later to find out how the orphans live now.
Dancing Girl (踊子, Hiroshi Shimizu, 1957)
The arrival of a free-spirited younger sister creates chaos in the live of a chorus dancer and her violinist husband in Hiroshi Shimizu’s elegantly lensed melodrama.
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.
Record of a Tenement Gentleman (長屋紳士録, Yasujiro Ozu, 1947)
A cynical old woman regains her sense of humanity after unwillingly fostering a lost little boy in Ozu’s heartwarming post-war drama
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A former police woman is charged with rescuing a
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
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A conflicted scientist struggles to reconcile himself to the implications of his work while researching an atomic bomb in Kurosaki’s contemplative wartime drama
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Story of a Blind Woman /女めくら物語 / Onna mekura monogatari (1965)
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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.
Children of the Great Buddha (大仏さまと子供たち, Hiroshi Shimizu, 1952)
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Radio Queen (ラヂオの女王, Shigeo Yagura, 1935)
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Tomorrow There Will Be Fine Weather (明日は日本晴れ, Hiroshi Shimizu, 1948)
A bus breaking down on a mountain pass signals a roadblock on the way to a new Japan in Hiroshi Shimizu’s lighthearted yet melancholy drama.
Haunted Samurai (土忍記 風の天狗, Keiichi Ozawa, 1970)
An exiled spy is confronted by the cruel inequalities of the feudal era in Keiichi Ozawa’s ninja drama.
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Wind, Woman and Road (風と女と旅鴉, Tai Kato, 1958)
A wanderer returns home and finds himself torn between a desire for acceptance and revenge in an early Tai Kato jidaigeki.
New Woman Question and Answer (新女性問答, Yasushi Sasaki, 1939)
Yasushi Sasaki’s surprisingly progressive drama considers the changing place of women in the contemporary society.
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A hapless scholar finds new purpose after falling for a woman on the run in King Hu’s spiritually-inflected wuxia tale of flight and enlightenment
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