A Last Note

An aging actress, Yoko, visits her summer home in the country, where she and her housemaid receive an old friend, attend a wedding, and deal with secrets come to light.

This is an old person's movie: it reminds me of some of Bergman's later works, such as Autumn Sonata and Saraband. There's practcally no action of any kind, but a lot of reflection upon, and confrontation of the past, and in the form of Tomie, Yoko's old friend with dementia, uncomfortable portends of the future.

There's nothing groundbreaking or truly first rate here, and it shares almost none of the power of Shindo's 1960s masterpieces Onibaba and Kuroneko, but it's still a small, nicely constructed short story, well told.