Watchlist: 50s Japan
Goal: See 50 new viewings produced in 1950s Japan.
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- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsChikage AwashimaMichiyo AratamaKumi MizunoA war widow with a young boy manages a farm with her bossy mother-in-law. When a reporter comes to interview her, the two begin an affair. He turns out to be married and won't leave his wife. Her older brother tries to marry off his children and hang on to/ extend his farm through an advantageous marriage in the face of threatened land confiscation and the desire of his children to get comfortable urban jobs instead of the backbreaking work in the paddy fields under parental control.
- DirectorKinuyo TanakaStarsChishû RyûShûji SanoHisako YamaneMokichi is the widowed father of three daughters, with whom he lives on the premises of a temple since the war. All three daughters become involved in some sort of complicated relationships.
- DirectorShirô ToyodaStarsRyô IkebeKeiko KishiKaoru YachigusaIt's a man's world. Shimamura, an artist, comes to this snowbound town to rejuvenate himself. He connects with Komako, a geisha he met on a previous trip, and it seems like love. She's the foster daughter of a local family, almost engaged to the family's son Yukio, now dying of consumption. He's tended by his sister Yuko who's angry at Komako for abandoning her brother. Shimamura returns to Tokyo but promises he will be back soon. In anticipation of his return, Komako breaks with her patron and her family loses their home. Complications arise when Shimamura doesn't come back as promised. Then Komako discovers that he and Yuko knew each other in Tokyo. Can Komako escape destiny?
- DirectorShirô ToyodaStarsHisaya MorishigeIsuzu YamadaKyôko KagawaA timid and aimless man's love for his cat is his only solace in a life dominated by his mother and the two women she chooses for him to marry.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChikage AwashimaRyô IkebeTeiji TakahashiA young man and his wife struggle within the confines of their passionless relationship while he has an extramarital romance.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiStarsShinjirô EbaraHitomi NakaharaEiji OkadaJunai Monogatari is about two poor youths, Mitsuko and Kando, rebelling against society in various ways, who are desperately trying to be together despite tortuous circumstances.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsKinuyo TanakaHideko TakamineKen UeharaSetsuko is unhappily married to Mimura, an engineer with no job and a drinking habit. She's always been in love with Hiroshi, but he left for France years ago without proposing. Now he is back and Mariko (Setsuko's sister) tries to reunite them, although secretly she loves him too.
- DirectorYûzô KawashimaStarsMasayuki MoriTatsuya MihashiMie KitaharaHaruki Murakami is a successful family man and the head of a camera company. Unbeknownst to Murakami, his arrogant son oscillates between a mistress and a new lover who sings at a nightclub. When Murakami's disabled daughter befriends the mistress, the affair throws the family into turmoil.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsYûko MochizukiYôko KatsuragiMasami TauraAlternating 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 live a life of pleasure. The self-pitying Haruko is sure her life was one of pain and humiliation, for her children. As Seiichi, now a medical student, announces his plans to let a wealthy man adopt him, and as Utako considers the offer to go away with a married man who is her English teacher, what is left for Haruko?
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsOsamu TakizawaShin'ichi YanagisawaHiroyuki NagatoA rumbunctious and ribald tale of a troupe of travelling actors who alternate highlights of kabuki theatre with strip shows.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsRanko AkagiKamatari FujiwaraBokuzen HidariPostwar Tokyo. Pin (Jukichi Uno) and Toku (Taiji Tonoyama) live in the squatter area of Kappanuma. Pin and Toku are avid gamblers. They take in Tsuru (Nobuko Otowa), a slightly demented woman who has run away from a geisha house.
- DirectorToshio MasudaStarsTomio AokiIzumi AshikawaRyôji HayamaA group of five college students decide to jinx a bicycle race in their favor and claim the money to pay off their debts, but when the illegal bookie cannot pay, they take up his offer of "collateral" as revenge and complexities begin to unravel and ruin their scheme.
- DirectorKôzaburô YoshimuraStarsRaizô IchikawaKyôko KagawaShintarô KatsuStory follows a poor peasant family that through hardship gets some money and how that change them.
- DirectorKeigo KimuraStarsToshirô MifuneMachiko KyôTakashi ShimuraYone (Toshiro Mifune) is a horse trader who lives in a small village on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido. He is a rough-and-tumble type who is prone to getting roaring drunk, starting bar brawls, and losing all his money at dice. The only problem is that he has a sickly wife, Haruno, and an infant son, Daihei.
- DirectorHiroshi ShimizuStarsMichiyo KogureIchirô RyûzakiJunko IkeuchiLiterary adaptation set in early 20th century Japan, in which a sensitive boy is surrounded by unloving family members.
- DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsHiroyuki NagatoMisako WatanabeKô NishimuraEndless Desire is a black comedy on the spoils of war much extended and enhanced by the greed, treachery, laziness, and lust of the postwar decade.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsMachiko KyôMasayuki MoriYoshiko KugaIn Older Brother, Younger Sister, director Mikio Naruse's adaptation of an oft-filmed popular novel by Saisei Murô, the eldest daughter (Machiko Kyô) of a rural family comes home pregnant, testing some already tenuous family bonds. Naruse shows his considerable skill at portraying household dynamics, filming Kyô in relaxed and/or reclining positions (indicative of her character's exhaustively maintained independence) that are then intruded upon by her ill-tempered older brother (Masayuki Mori), whose initially comic, brute-force presence grows increasingly menacing and treacherous as the film progresses.
- DirectorShirô ToyodaStarsHisaya MorishigeChikage AwashimaYôko TsukasaDespite paternal disapproval, the heir of a wealthy family embarks on a relationship with a Geisha.
- DirectorHeinosuke GoshoStarsShûji SanoNobuko OtowaMitsuko MitoAn Inn at Osaka, rarely seen outside Japan, follows the story of an insurance company executive from Tokyo, Mr. Mito, who is demoted to the Osaka office. He takes a room at a small inn and tries to rebuild his life.
- DirectorKôzaburô YoshimuraStarsKazuo HasegawaMichiyo KogureMachiko KyôBased on the classic novel by Murasaki Shikibu, written over 1000 years ago. Genji, the son of the emperor, has gained renown among the nobility of Kyoto for his charm and good looks, yet he cannot stop himself from pursuing the one object of desire he must never obtain: his father's young and beautiful bride. Following the tragic consequences of his obsession, Genji wanders from one affair to another, always seeking some sort of resolution to his life.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsHideko TakamineToshirô MifuneKeiju KobayashiA young woman tries to raise money to open her own coffee shop.She arranges a loan when her rigid family won't help and then her husband becomes jealous of the loan officer.
- DirectorTadashi ImaiStarsEmiko TakahashiTanie KitabayashiGeorge OkunoyamaImmediately after the Second World War, sister Kiku and brother Isamu, whose mother was a prostitute and the father was a GI, live with their grandmother in the country. Because their colour, hair is different from Japanese, they'd have a hard time, being bullied or treated like unusual creatures. Unfortunately, racism and some other issues such as being different still exist in Japan but the way Kiku portrayed was quite refreshing as she's so strong and fighting against all those stupidity and cliché.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsIsuzu YamadaKô MishimaYûnosuke ItôIn a mountain village, Heita, a translator's son, is a gifted boy but is shunned by the villagers. He can imitate birds' cry and befriends another boy who works in a brewery. Heita also finds solace in the village pastor Yasugi and his teacher Michiko, but they too have problems of their own.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsSetsuko HaraShûji SanoKyôko KagawaThis wry chamber piece from director Mikio Naruse focuses on a couple whose pet peeves and minor irritations escalate into major rifts and animosity.