Directed by Mikio Naruse • 1952 • Japan
Starring Kinuyo Tanaka, Kyoko Kagawa, Eiji Okada
Rather more upbeat (and at times even lighthearted) than the transcendentally tragic melodramas he is best known for, Mikio Naruse’s bittersweet family portrait features a quietly masterful performance from Kinuyo Tanaka (who later became a great director in her own right) as a fiercely resourceful mother in postwar Japan weathering everyday hardships as she works to provide a decent life for her four children. Told from the point of view of the family’s teenage daughter (Kyoko Kagawa), MOTHER offers a convincingly realistic evocation of a young woman’s perspective as she experiences joy and heartbreak in equal measure.
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Wife
Directed by Mikio Naruse • 1953 • Japan
Starring Mieko Takamine, Ken Uehara, Rentaro MikuniOne of six films that director Mikio Naruse adapted from the novels of Fumiko Hayashi, WIFE is an incisive, unsparing portrait of a decade-old marriage in the process of disintegrating. Opening and closin...
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Late Chrysanthemums
Directed by Mikio Naruse • 1954 • Japan
Starring Haruko Sugimura, Ken Uehara, Sadako SawamuraSuffused with the sense of autumnal melancholy and nostalgia that its title suggests, LATE CHRYSANTHEMUMS is one of director Mikio Naruse’s most perfectly realized works. In a rare starring role, the gr...
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Sound of the Mountain
Directed by Mikio Naruse • 1954 • Japan
Starring Setsuko Hara, Ken Uehara, So YamamuraMikio Naruse’s THE SOUND OF THE MOUNTAIN (YAMA NO OTO) was one of the director’s personal favorites among his own movies. The story concerns a woman, Kukiko (Setsuko Hara), trapped in a loveless marriage to Ot...
