Munekata kyoudai (1950)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Yasujiro Ozu

Writers:

Kôgo Noda (screenplay) &
Yasujiro Ozu (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 August 1950 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Setsuko is unhappily to Mimura, an engineer with no job and a bad drinking habit. She had always been...

Plot Keywords:

Engineer | Sister Sister Relationship | Impossible Love | Based On Novel

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Kinuyo Tanaka	...	Setsuko Munekata
Hideko Takamine	...	Mariko
Ken Uehara	...	Hiroshi Tashiro
Sanae Takasugi	...	Yoriko Mashita
Chishu Ryu	...	Tadachika Munekata
Sô Yamamura	...	Ryosuke Mimura, Setsuko's husband
Yuji Hori	...	Maejima
Tatsuo Saito	...	Jou Uchida, the Professor
Kamatari Fujiwara	...	Sangin's master
Setsuko Horikoshi	...	Sangin's maid
Reikichi Kawamura	...	Sangin's customer
Yoshiko Tsubouchi	...	Mieko

Also Known As:

The Munekata Sisters (International: English title)

Runtime:

Argentina:116 min | Japan:112 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16

Company:

Shintoho Company

self-conscious Ozu?

From what I've heard, this is one of the least revered Ozu films, but after first glance I find it to be one of the most fascinating. A naive but zealous girl (Hideko Takamine) proposes marriage to a man who is in love with her sister (Kinuyo Tanaka) who is trapped in a loveless marriage; this is the girl's way of showing concern for her sister, by keeping the man she really loves but cannot have close at hand. It's an odd mix of high comedy and stark social commentary on the social boundaries that define women's roles, and for me it shows as much tonal range as anything I've seen in other Ozu films -- frivolous flirtatious interludes, sincere and tender romantic exchanges, and stark moments of violent rage are held in precarious balance thanks to Ozu's rock solid powers of observation. It's worth seeing this film as Ozu playing as self-consciously and inventively with genres as he did in the 30s -- the girl in some scenes narrates the action like a benshi. I definitely see this as a reworking of WHAT DID THE LADY FORGET?, revisiting the setup of the liberated meddling gamine overturning the fragile co-existence between a hapless housewife and the helpless husband; this time the scene of domestic violence is given the full measure of subtext and consequence that was lacking in the earlier film, adding resonance to what otherwise might be misjudged as straight melodrama. A difficult film to pin down, but no less alluring for it.