Inazuma (1952)

Director:

Mikio Naruse

Writers:

Fumiko Hayashi (novel), Sumie Tanaka

Stars:

Hideko Takamine, Mitsuko Miura, Kyôko Kagawa

5 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Hideko Takamine	...	Kiyoko
Mitsuko Miura	...	Mitsuko
Kyôko Kagawa	...	Tsubomi
Chieko Murata	...	Nuiko
Jun Negami	...	Shuzo
Eitarô Ozawa	...	Tsunakichi (as Sakae Ozawa)
Kumeko Urabe	...	Osei
Chieko Nakakita	...	Ritsu
Hisako Takihana	...	Tome
Kenzaburo Uemura	...	Ryuzo
Mariko Sugioka	...	Katsura
Osamu Maruyama	...	Kasuke
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tadashi Date
Ken'ichi Miyajima	...	Old man at a bus
Nobuko Shingu

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

one word title | mother daughter relationship | sister | based on novel

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

9 October 1952 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Bliksem

Filming Locations:

Ginza Dori, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

Great, if a bit hard to get at first

Inazuma stars the wonderful Hideko Takamine, which was one of the regulars of the films of Michio Naruse (at least during the 1950s). The movie, set in postwar Japan in a lower middle class milieu, is a bit hard to understand at first, with all the messy family relations for the audience to sort out, but is basically about the Takamine character's decision to leave her extended family and start a life of her own (her mother has four different children from different fathers: "you breed like a cat", Takamine would later reproach her mother, in one of the movie's funnier lines). The movie ends up in a relatively upbeat note. And why in so many Japanese movies from the 1950s the only job apparently available to young women consist on being tourist guides?