Poll

What's your favorite film by Mikio Naruse?

Kimi to wakarete (After Our Separation)
0 (0%)
Yogoto no yume (Each Night I Dream)
0 (0%)
Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts
0 (0%)
Tsuma yo bara no yo ni (Kimiko)
0 (0%)
Hideko, the Bus Conductress
0 (0%)
Uta-andon (The Song Lantern)
0 (0%)
Ginza keshô (Ginza Cosmetics)
0 (0%)
Meshi (Repast)
1 (5.3%)
Okaasan (Mother)
1 (5.3%)
Inazuma (Lightning)
0 (0%)
Fûfu (Husband and Wife)
0 (0%)
Ani imôto (Older Brother, Younger Sister)
0 (0%)
Yama no oto (The Thunder of the Mountain)
1 (5.3%)
Bangiku (Late Chrysanthemums)
0 (0%)
Ukigumo (Floating Clouds)
0 (0%)
Shû u (Sudden Rain)
0 (0%)
Nagareru (Flowing)
1 (5.3%)
Iwashigumo (Summer Clouds)
0 (0%)
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
3 (15.8%)
Daughters, Wives and a Mother
0 (0%)
Hourou-ki (A Wanderer's Notebook)
0 (0%)
Midareru (Yearning)
0 (0%)
The Stranger Within a Woman
0 (0%)
Midaregumo (Scattered Clouds)
0 (0%)
other (specify)
0 (0%)
haven't seen any
11 (57.9%)
don't like any
1 (5.3%)

Total Members Voted: 19

Author Topic: Naruse, Mikio  (Read 10811 times)

Verite

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Re: Director's Best: Mikio Naruse
« Reply #10 on: October 26, 2010, 07:34:13 PM »
A great storyteller of the place in women in Japanese society-- A Woman Ascends the Stairs explores the emotional terrain and class structure of the Ginza bar world and Flowing takes brings us into a struggling geisha house and what that means for the livelihood of the geishas and their daughters.  Heartbreaking stuff, I think, especially Flowing.
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Verite

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Re: Director's Best: Mikio Naruse
« Reply #11 on: October 26, 2010, 07:36:21 PM »
Also, I think Setsuko Hara's best performances are in Naruse films not Ozu's.
"When in doubt, seduce."
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MartinTeller

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Re: Director's Best: Mikio Naruse
« Reply #12 on: October 26, 2010, 07:46:20 PM »
Also, I think Setsuko Hara's best performances are in Naruse films not Ozu's.

I might agree with that.  She's so lovable in Ozu's movies though.

Antares

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Re: Director's Best: Mikio Naruse
« Reply #13 on: March 18, 2011, 11:03:47 AM »
Only seen When a Woman Ascends the Stairs :(

Me too

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
Masterpiece (100-91) | Classic (90-80) | Entertaining (79-69) | Mediocre (68-58) | Cinemuck (57-21) | Crap (20-0)

roujin

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Re: Director's Best: Mikio Naruse
« Reply #14 on: March 18, 2011, 11:48:59 AM »
Haven't seen any.

One of my top three auteur blindspots.

Did we ever find out what the other ones were?

roujin

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Re: Naruse Mikio - Director's Best
« Reply #15 on: June 29, 2012, 02:21:34 PM »
Wife! Be Like a Rose Mikio Naruse, 1935

the style here is a lot less mannered and intense than it was in Every Night Dreams from a couple of years earlier. story's about a young woman who's about to marry. however, in order to marry, she has to go get her father (who left them and has shacked up with a former geisha in a town in the mountains). the film is all dualities about the two families (city vs. country, but not really); about how the daughter views the make-shift family her father has made for himself, how they depend on him, even if he's kind of useless. there's this incredible scene where the father's other daughter overhears a conversation between the former geisha mother and the "girl from the city" that's just overwhelming in its emotions, the simplicity of its construction and execution, it's just amazing. looks like naruse is someone i need to check in with more.

sdedalus

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Re: Naruse Mikio - Director's Best
« Reply #16 on: June 29, 2012, 02:42:06 PM »
Haven't seen any.

One of my top three auteur blindspots.

Did we ever find out what the other ones were?

I think it was S. Ray and RW Fassbinder.

Now it's only Fassbinder.
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Re: Naruse Mikio - Director's Best
« Reply #17 on: August 29, 2012, 06:55:47 PM »
I have only seen When a Woman Ascends the Stairs. I liked it, but didn't love it. I want to give Naruse another shot. What should I watch? I have Hulu+.

MartinTeller

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Re: Director's Best: Mikio Naruse
« Reply #18 on: August 29, 2012, 06:57:05 PM »
I have only seen When a Woman Ascends the Stairs. I liked it, but didn't love it. I want to give Naruse another shot. What should I watch? I have Hulu+.

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worm@work

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Re: Naruse Mikio - Director's Best
« Reply #19 on: January 01, 2013, 10:08:54 AM »
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs | Naruse | 1960

“Bars in the daytime are like women without makeup”.

This was so surprising in so many ways. For one, I wasn't expecting such a light touch from Naruse somehow. I went into it expecting something more akin to The Life of Oharu (which is a film I really like) but Naruse's handling of the material is quite different. Much of the film focuses on the quotidian details of Keiko's life in the ginza bar and outside and it is through these every day moments that the film builds up to the emotional punch of the last half hour.

I also love the way Naruse uses the widescreen compositions to emphasize the claustrophobic congested interiors of the bar as well as to hint at the modernity and freedom that the rare outdoor shots (train stations and bridges) seem to signal. I also wasn't really expecting that light jazzy soundtrack that works so well in the film. Such a lovely portrayal of life's quiet relentless disappointments.
« Last Edit: March 03, 2020, 12:55:25 PM by 1SO »