Four former geishas struggle to find their place in a changing society in Miko Naruse’s melancholy melodrama.
May 20, 2023 • Subscribe
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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.


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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


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


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.


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


Seven Samurai (1954)
Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai remains engaging despite being 66 years old. The story follows seven ronin, masterless samurai, as they defend a farming village from a band of…


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“An important document that traces how the post-war capitalistic machine of modernity poisons subjectivity by ‘promoting’ a selfish monetary desire, slowly empties social relations, and cause…
A Musical Up-Roar 1954-57
Fred Quimby departed from the reins, and Hanna and Barbera were forced to take over production on much tighter budgets.
Late news recap
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“Wise” Too Late
Is this another anime trend I see before me? Now, gender change comedies have been with us since the Greeks took ink to paper (or whatever they wrote…


Piofiore no Banshou ピオフィオーレの晩鐘 – Review / Summary
In the 1920’s of Italy in a city called Burlone, the heroine Liliana is an orphaned girl who lives at a church with other orphans and a nun…


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…


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This is not a fandisk but rather a sequel to Piofiore no Banshou. There are three different types of episode types such as -BURLONE-, -ALTERNATIVA-, and -HENRI-. The -BURLONE- episode…
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I ended up watching 7 shows from this season, so we’ll make this a Spring Exclusive.
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Ghost Man (幽霊男, Motoyoshi Oda, 1954)
Employees at a nude modelling agency find themselves in the firing line when a “bloodsucking painter” escapes from a psychiatric institution in Motoyoshi Oda’s B-movie thriller.


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We all know Godzilla. Toho's famous monster debuted in the black-and-white film Godzilla over half a century ago. The Japan Society in New York City held...
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We have a pair of manga this week with some requests. Tim has a request for Darling In The Franxx. Most of his exposure of this series came from the…


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Golden Demon / 金色夜叉 / Konjiki yasha (1954)
Obscure Japanese Film #175 Jun Negami and Fujiko Yamamoto 1890. Miya (Fujiko Yamamoto) is a young woman in love with her adopted broth...


Seven Samurai (七人の侍, Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
Desperate peasants recruit samurai protectors in Akira Kurosawa’s classic historical epic back in UK cinemas Oct. 29


An Anime About The Bikini Atoll Bomb Crisis of 1954
Tobiuo no boy wa byouki desu Little Flying Fish Who Gets Sick. It’s always fun covering old anime about anthropomorphic animals. Today we have an film that takes places…


Deadly Premonition Late Night Part 4
We were killing Diablo in very spooky video game Diablo 2


Eights and a nine (late, sorry)
I’ll do that for this episode. Tokidoki Bosotto 9 wastes an episode with only one meaningful thing in it. Alya, though she won the debate, feels sorry for…
Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!, Nisemonogatari, SHOSHIMIN: How to Become Ordinary, Bakemonogatari, Dungeon People
RGM-79D GM Late Production Type
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Episode 33: X vol. 13 – Late
Lucy and Robin dive into volume 13 of X, as the two sides clash and some old friends are lost.
Asakusa no yoru / 浅草の夜 (‘Asakusa at Night’, 1954)
Obscure Japanese Film #156 Ayako Wakao and Machiko Kyo Setsuko (Machiko Kyo) is a dancer at a theatre in Asakusa, where she’s been havin...


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.


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…


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