The Makioka Sisters (1983) Sasame-yuki (original title)

Director:

Kon Ichikawa

Writers:

Shin'ya Hidaka (writer)
Kon Ichikawa (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

30 December 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

This sensuously beautiful film chronicles the activities of four sisters who gather in Kyoto every year to view the cherry blossoms...

Plot Keywords:

Cherry Blossom | Japan | Sister | Electronic Music Score | Arranged Marriage

Awards:

6 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Keiko Kishi	...	Tsuruko Makioka
Yoshiko Sakuma	...	Sachiko Makioka
Sayuri Yoshinaga	...	Yukiko Makioka
Yûko Kotegawa	...	Taeko Makioka
Jûzô Itami	...	Tatsuo, Tsuruko's husband
Kôji Ishizaka	...	Teinosuke, Sachiko's husband
Toshiyuki Hosokawa	...	Hashidera
Ittoku Kishibe	...	Itakura
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Takenori Emoto	...	Higashiya
Jun Hamamura	...	Otokichi
Jun Hashizume	...	Soldier
Akiji Kobayashi	...	Seitaro Jinba
Kazuya Kosaka	...	Nomura
Kuniko Miyake	...	Tominaga's aunt
Akemi Negishi	...	Mrs. Shimozuma
Miki Sanjô	...	Ohisa
Nobuko Sendô	...	Hashidera's daughter
Taeko Shinbashi	...	Mrs. Jinba
Kayoko Shiraishi	...	Restaurant owner
Fujio Tokita	...	Igarashi
Kazunaga Tsuji	...	Miyoshi
Yukari Uehara	...	Oharu
Michiyo Yokoyama	...	Itani
Takao Zushi	...	Otokichi's son

Directed by
Kon Ichikawa

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Shin'ya Hidaka		writer
Kon Ichikawa		writer
Jun'ichirô Tanizaki		novel

Produced by
Kon Ichikawa	....	executive producer
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Shinnosuke Okawa
Toshiyuki Watanabe

Cinematography by
Kiyoshi Hasegawa

Film Editing by
Chizuko Osada

Production Design by
Shinobu Muraki

Production Management
Takahide Morichi	....	executive in charge of production

Sound Department
Tetsuya Ohashi	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Kojiro Sahashi	....	lighting technician

Production Companies

• Toho Eizo Co.

Distributors

• Cowboy Pictures (USA) (theatrical)
• Toho Company (1983) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Criterion Collection, The (2011) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Criterion Collection, The (laserdisc)
• Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting (2007) (Japan) (TV)

Other Companies

• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

"Sasame-yuki" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

140 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | Singapore:PG | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Kyoto, Japan

Company:

Toho Eizo Co.

Movie Connections:

Version of Sasameyuki (1959)

well-made Japanese flick that could have used more energy

This is a gorgeous film to watch--you probably will never see a more beautiful view of Japan as you see of the wonderful cherry blossoms or Japanese Maples around Kyoto and Osaka. So, the cinematography is excellent. However, the story itself seemed awfully flat overall. The writing and acting was decent, but the film needed more energy, heart and a sense of humor for me to care more about the characters. Most of the characters would have surely benefited from a massive dose of this, as the way they were portrayed it was, at times, hard to for me to care about them or sustain my interest in the film. For example, the 3rd daughter (who was the one who repeatedly refused marriage proposals) was a bit of a cipher, as she didn't say very much and just used a lot of facial expressions instead of dialog. The youngest, though a little self-destructive, was probably the easiest to like or at least understand. And the two older sisters were very domineering but needed to be softened a little more--lest they seem too one-dimensional. A decent film, but that's all.