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A Japanese Tragedy

Original title: Nihon no higeki
  • 19531953
  • 1h 56m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
357
YOUR RATING
A Japanese Tragedy (1953)
Drama
Alternating in time, between the end of World War II and 1953, Haruko, a widow, does what she can to keep her daughter Utako and son Seiichi safe, fed, and sheltered. By 1953, it's clear tha... Read allAlternating in time, between the end of World War II and 1953, Haruko, a widow, does what she can to keep her daughter Utako and son Seiichi safe, fed, and sheltered. By 1953, it's clear that the children, as they enter adulthood, want little to do with their mother. They have a ... Read allAlternating in time, between the end of World War II and 1953, Haruko, a widow, does what she can to keep her daughter Utako and son Seiichi safe, fed, and sheltered. By 1953, it's clear that the children, as they enter adulthood, want little to do with their mother. They have a different view of their childhood and her sacrifices: in their eyes, she abandoned them to... Read all
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
357
YOUR RATING
    • Keisuke Kinoshita
    • Keisuke Kinoshita
  • Stars
    • Yûko Mochizuki
    • Yôko Katsuragi
    • Masami Taura
    • Keisuke Kinoshita
    • Keisuke Kinoshita
  • Stars
    • Yûko Mochizuki
    • Yôko Katsuragi
    • Masami Taura
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 3User reviews
    • 10Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
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    Top cast

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    Yûko Mochizuki
    Yûko Mochizuki
    • Haruko Inoue
    Yôko Katsuragi
    Yôko Katsuragi
    • Haruko's daughter
    Masami Taura
    Masami Taura
    • Haruko's son
    Keiko Awaji
    Keiko Awaji
    • Wakamaru, a geisha
    Shin'ichi Himori
    Shin'ichi Himori
    • Ichizo
    Nadao Kirino
    Tanie Kitabayashi
    Tanie Kitabayashi
    • Ichizo's wife
    Yôshirô Kusakari
    • Ichizo's son
    Keiji Sada
    Keiji Sada
    • Tatsuya, street musician
    Fujio Suga
    Fujio Suga
    • Fujita
    Teiji Takahashi
    Teiji Takahashi
    • Sato
    Sanae Takasugi
    Sanae Takasugi
    • Mrs. Akazawa
    Jun Tatara
    Ken Uehara
    Ken Uehara
    • Masayuki Akazawa, the English teacher
    Eijirô Yanagi
    Eijirô Yanagi
    • Iwami
      • Keisuke Kinoshita
      • Keisuke Kinoshita
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    User reviews3

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    9/10
    An Angry Retort To Ozu and Naruse
    It begins in a whirlwind of documentary footage about current Japan, about corruption and strife. We see flashbacks to Japan, just coming out of the War, dealing with poverty and hunger and teachers explaining that they were telling their students lies, passing on the lies they had been told and believed. Newspaper stories are shown. Among the headlines is one about a mother of two who committed suicide by jumping in front of a train.

    Yûko Mochizuki is a serving woman at a resort in the Izu Peninsula. Her son and daughter visit her. The son wants her to sign documents so he can be adopted by a wealthy doctor; he is a top student, but he has no money, and so cannot afford to practice medicine. Her daughter, unknown to her, is being courted by her English teacher, a married man whose wife despises him, and whose daughter has been trained to hate him.

    Ozu and Naruse wrote and directed serious movies about families struggling to survive and adapt in a changing Japan. Their families care about each other. Kinoshita, in this movie, says those are lies. Miss Mochizuki's family has fallen apart in a Japan where no one cares about anyone else. She is a kind, moral, silly woman, who gives good advice and is lied to at best, or knocked to the ground for it. Her daughter was raped by her cousin; now she hates all men and trusts no one. Her son has become an almost emotionless intellectual drudge, who shrugs his shoulders when told of some one making a stupid choice; they're adults, he says. They have to make their own decisions. He's going to survive in this new world.

    Kinoshita's work after his wartime propaganda, is usually ameliorated by his dark sense of humor. There is no humor here. Instead, he has absorbed the techniques of both Italian Neo-Realism for his visual effects, and Film Noir's flashback structure to show character's motivation. It's a fine, angry, hateful story of people adrift in an uncaring world.
    helpful•11
    1
    • boblipton
    • Nov 29, 2018

    Details

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    • Release date
      • May 30, 1979 (United States)
      • Japan
      • Japanese
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Production company
      • Shochiku
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 56 minutes
      • Black and White
      • Mono

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