Directed by Mikio Naruse • 1954 • Japan
Starring Setsuko Hara, Ken Uehara, So Yamamura
Mikio Naruse’s THE SOUND OF THE MOUNTAIN (YAMA NO OTO) was one of the director’s personal favorites among his own movies. The story concerns a woman, Kukiko (Setsuko Hara), trapped in a loveless marriage to Otto (Ken Uehara) and living as a virtual servant to her in-laws. The one solace she has is the sensitivity of her father-in-law (So Yamamura), who tries to better her life in increasingly bold ways. But matters become even more complicated when Kukiko finds herself pregnant, and decides to end the pregnancy without ever revealing her condition.
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Floating Clouds
Directed by Mikio Naruse • 1955 • Japan
Starring Hideko Takamine, Masayuki Mori, Mariko Okada“Short is the life of flowers, infinite their sorrows . . .” Director Mikio Naruse’s most famous film in Japan is a haunting portrait of obsessive love in a ruined world. Set amid the bombed-out landsca...
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Flowing
Directed by Mikio Naruse • 1956 • Japan
Kinuyo Tanaka, Isuzu Yamada, Hideko TakamineOne of director Mikio Naruse’s most sublime achievements traces the fortunes of a geisha house struggling to survive in the face of a changing society. As seen through the eyes of the establishment’s new maid (K...
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When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
Directed by Mikio Naruse • 1960 • Japan
Starring Hideko Takamine, Masayuki Mori, Reiko DanWHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS might be Japanese filmmaker Mikio Naruse’s finest hour, a delicate, devastating study of a woman, Keiko (played heartbreakingly by Hideko Takamine), who works as a bar hoste...
