Mikio Naruse

[ltfontaine]

I can't find reference to a novel that sounds remotely like the film, and I wonder whether the source might not be a story rather than a novel, imdb citation notwithstanding. Among the stories collected in a volume titled Salamander, or alternately, Lieutenant Lookeast, there are no ostensibly likely matches, though one title, Pilgrim's Inn, sounds promising as a rendering of the story that serves as the basis for Shimizu's Kanzashi. Next trip to the library . . .

Don't know about a bus subgenre, but buses and even bus conductresses do appear with notable frequency in Japanese films.

[Michael Kerpan]

Alas, the BPL does not seem to have a copy of the story collection you mention.

I have wound up doing quite a bit of fiction reading lately, due to the promptings of classic Japanese films. (BTW -- I highly recommend "A Woman Called En" -- which out-shined Imai's film adaptation).

[vivahawks]

I saw Yearning for the first time a few days ago and just about had my head blown off, so I wanted to write down a few notes to hear some other opinions and also hopefully finally get this film out of my system and bring my mind back to the real work I should be doing.

The film kept building in interest and power as I watched it; much of the first 40 or so minutes seemed generic, but it got better as the central drama came into focus, and just at the point when Takamine makes her decision and I thought the movie was almost over, it kicked into a whole other level, so good and so high that I wasn't sure how Naruse could resolve it. The way he did left my jaw squarely on the floor (not entirely in a good way, but still--I knew almost nothing about the film before seeing it, and was entirely unprepared). There's so much to talk about and appreciate here that I'll have to take a quick hit & run approach. For one thing, just on the basis of this and When a Woman..., Naruse joins Fuller, Jancso, Preminger, etc in my pantheon of b&w widescreen grandmasters (the couple of his color Scope films I've seen are assured but less striking); the compositions and editing are gorgeous but not flamboyant, always working to add extra layers of detail and perspective to each scene. Every shot is held just long enough for its impact to register and no longer, an efficiency that makes the length of the final unyielding closeup that much more devastating: the world's just exploded underneath Takamine and us, and now we need to start contemplating the aftermath. It's also the first shot after the movie, in the sense that it leads us into the contemplation and analysis that the whole film, and the ending, demand.

(Potential spoilers in this paragraph!)
Naruse's structures are always interesting, and this film's is pretty clearly divided into three sections, which shift in emphasis from the socioeconomic to the familial and finally the individual aspects of the story. In spite of these changes in context and setting, the narrative turns around a series of repeated actions, so much so that a number of key early events, from the phone conversations to the storekeeper's fate, prefigure the climax. Even an early shot of the doomed shopkeeper, seen looking out of the window at the supermarket opposite him as its neon bars reflect on the glass, is faintly echoed later by Kayama looking out the paneled windows after Takamine's decision about leaving the family; the two are thinking about vastly different things, but then part of Naruse's point is how everything ties together, how different circumstances and causes feed into the same effects.

These repetitions is both a way to play out variations on these rituals, as well as another example of the static or circular paths Naruse's characters often find themselves in: Kayama comes full circle and then some (something that's necessary plotwise but seems psychologically shaky to me). It's obviously significant that the freshest, most hopeful, forward-moving sequence takes place on a train: physical and psychological progress are equated, and when the couple stops and gets off you can feel it's not going to end well. But, oh that sublime train section: the greatest passage in any Naruse I've seen, suddenly elevating us into a different plane from where the rest of the movie takes place (I guess you can see why Kayama can't really recover from the letdown after that), poetic yet also very particularized.

Hideko Takamine and Yuzo Kayama are both fabulous here, the latter taking a pretty generic role and making it a flesh-and-blood character, although the film's treatment of the westernized women (and their corporate equivalent, the supermarkets) was too crudely caricatured. I've got some intellectual problems with this film, especially the narrative imbalances and the overdetermined plot twists, but I can't really hold them against it; a few other Naruses may be greater as unified wholes, but none have struck me this forcefully. As Margaret Sullavan might say, psychologically I'm very confused, but personally I don't mind at all.

[kinjitsu]

Catherine Russell's Cinema of Naruse Mikio: Women and Japanese Modernity, is currently available for pre-order at B&N for a mere $21.

[Michael Kerpan]

Yearning is so visually splendid that I can easily disregard any narrative infelicities. The end, in particular, is stunning.

Naruse never acclimated to color film the way Ozu did. Perhaps this is because Naruse was a master in using lighting (natural and artificial) in ways that were not yet possible when using color film. His most interesting looking color film (As A Wife, As a Woman) seems to have broken the rules, trying to get the same kind of striking lighting that he used in b&w. This must have been deemed too offbeat by the studio -- as his few subsequent color films are more conventional in this respect. After this, Naruse seems to have tried to use every possible excuse for reverting to b&w.

Pretty much all of Naruse's b&w 'scope-format films look spectacular.

[mattkc]

Yearning is indeed amazing. Definitely one of the best Naruses I've seen.

Michael, that's interesting about Naruse's use of color in As a Wife, As a Woman. I know you've called the film a masterpiece elsewhere, and it's one I'm particularly desparate to see. Of the three color Naruses I have seen, I thought the use of color in Daughters, Wives and a Mother was interesting. Even in Scattered Clouds too. It is pretty subtle though and I can see how perhaps color doesn't add all that much (though I think it "works" in these films nonetheless).

[Haggai]

I saw a screening tonight of Untamed, from '57, the first Naruse appearance for Tatsuya Nakadai. It was shown as part of the local Nakadai retrospective, but his role in it was very, very small. There were familiar roles for Hideko Takamine as the determined-to-be-independent woman, Masayuki Mori as the one she loves but can't be with, and Daisuke Kato as a nice-seeming guy who turns out to be a jerk. She starts the movie off with a brusque and uncaring Ken Uehara before heading off in search of a more fulfilling life. Nakadai eventually shows up as the appealing younger option.

I wouldn't rank it among the better Naruse that I've seen, although it's (as always) well-filmed and has some good scenes all throughout. The tone is occasionally pretty strange, featuring some nasty fights between Takamine and some of the men, as well as a darkly funny (and one-sided) catfight with one of her female rivals. It was almost like Naruse had decided to drop a few semi-comic John Ford tussles into the middle of this otherwise standard shomin-geki period piece. Another odd detail was a scene where they go to see a movie that has audible dialogue; odd because I think the story is supposed to be set in 1912.

Anyway, it's probably of interest to Naruse fans, but not an ideal intro to his style for newcomers. Most of the dozen or so films I saw at the local Naruse retrospective two years ago were more effective than this one, although it's still worth checking out.

[Michael Kerpan]

Untamed isn't on the same level as Naruse's very best 50s films -- but it is very interesting, as it is one of relatively few films that are set in the brief Taisho era. It is also rare in presenting a female would-be businesswoman from such an early period.

Pictures, for anyone who might be interested.

[sidehacker]

Haggai, I was also there! The print look gorgeous too. I can't help but think that a DVD (from somebody) is in the foreseeable future and (for whats it worth) I tend to be less than optimistic when it comes to these things. Also, it seemed to be presented in 1.85:1, which I can't ever remember seeing as a ratio in any other Naruse film. My family, which consists of folk completely inexperienced in general Japanese cinema, absolutely loved it. A great evening, indeed.

[Michael Kerpan]

Also, it seemed to be presented in 1.85:1, which I can't ever remember seeing as a ratio in any other Naruse film. My family, which consists of folk completely inexperienced in general Japanese cinema, absolutely loved it. A great evening, indeed.

Definitely supposed to be 2.35:1.

Glad to hear your family liked this. ;~}

[sidehacker]

Hmm, we're getting closer then, I suppose.

I think the first few minutes are a bit atypical for Naruse. Very quiet, type of Tsai/Tati structuring. I actually liked this part the best, though watching it amongst an anxious audience was a bit awkward. Eventually, it takes a turn to usual Naruse territory (just as great, of course!) and thats about when everyone seemed to become immersed in the film's charm.

Funny (at least to me) anecdote: The three slightly older Japanese women in front of me giggled when Daisuke Katô's name flashed on the screen.

[Michael Kerpan]

Funny (at least to me) anecdote: The three slightly older Japanese women in front of me giggled when Daisuke Katô's name flashed on the screen.

The work of Kato and Chieko Nakakita in Naruse's films is almost always remarkable. It is almost impossible to imagine his work of the 50s and early 60s without these two versatile and dependable mainstays -- both able to add just the right does of the right kind of humor (and whatever other emotions needed).

[tavernier]

Untamed is showing at Film Forum on July 9 as part of the Nakadai retro -- so I'll finally get to see it!

[Haggai]

Haggai, I was also there! The print look gorgeous too. I can't help but think that a DVD (from somebody) is in the foreseeable future and (for whats it worth) I tend to be less than optimistic when it comes to these things. Also, it seemed to be presented in 1.85:1, which I can't ever remember seeing as a ratio in any other Naruse film. My family, which consists of folk completely inexperienced in general Japanese cinema, absolutely loved it. A great evening, indeed.

So you're also in the DC area, side? Did you see Nakadai and Nogami last week at the Freer and then the National Gallery?

I didn't think anything seemed off with the aspect ratio of the Untamed screening, which was indeed at 1.85:1. Maybe someone at the Freer just screwed up, but that would be pretty surprising. They definitely show stuff there in 2.35:1, like Yojimbo last weekend.

[sidehacker]

Nope, I live in Southern Ohio, (relatively) close to Cincinnati, but I went to DC to visit my sister and see a Naruse I would have no chance of seeing otherwise.

[Michael Kerpan]

I didn't even look at my screen shots. ;~{

Arakure (Untamed) was shown on Japanese TV a couple of years ago using Academy ratio -- and IMDB (fwiw) also reports a 4.3 ratio. Unfortunately, Narboni doesn't list formats in the filmography section of his book on Naruse.

Japanese films in 1957 would have been either full frame or scope format. So far as I know, 1.85:1 wasn't used in Japan until the 70s. (For example, Nomura's first film using this ratio seems to have been his 1978 Kikichu).

[vivahawks]

His most interesting looking color film (As A Wife, As a Woman) seems to have broken the rules, trying to get the same kind of striking lighting that he used in b&w. This must have been deemed too offbeat by the studio -- as his few subsequent color films are more conventional in this respect.

Thanks for the tip on As a Wife As a Woman, Michael; I'll try to track this down. And I definitely can't wait to see more of Naruse's b&w Scope films.

[mattkc]

Arakure (Untamed) was shown on Japanese TV a couple of years ago using Academy ratio -- and IMDB (fwiw) also reports a 4.3 ratio.

Again, fwiw, but I believe Naruse's first film in 'Scope was Summer Clouds. I definitely think Untamed is an Academy ratio film.

[tavernier]

I saw Untamed at Film Forum yesterday -- it definitely was in Academy ratio.

It was good, not great, Naruse, in a decent print.

[Elephant]

Another odd detail was a scene where they go to see a movie that has audible dialogue; odd because I think the story is supposed to be set in 1912.

I thought the dialogue for the movie was being voiced by someone in the theater--he seemed to be doing the voices for both the man and the woman. Though we don't see this man in relation to the film/screen, there's a closeup of his face doing the voices, then it cuts to the film (the scene on the beach), and it seemed that the audio (the man's voice) didn't sync up exactly with the actors on the screen.

Of course it was late when I saw the film, and I was on medication, so I could have hallucinated this as well.

[tavernier]

Elephant is correct...that's exactly how that scene played out.

[Michael Kerpan]

Elephant is correct...that's exactly how that scene played out.

You get to see a benshi (film narrator) in action. Japan never had silent films. From the start, films were always part of a "multimedia performance" which included (often live) music and a narrator who not only spoke any dialog in the intertitles -- but also did additional dialog and provided color commentary.

While benshi were initially rather free-wheeling, government authorities soon cracked down. By the 20s, benshi were not allowed to deviate at all from an official (government-censored and approved) script.

[Haggai]

Ah, now I get why I was confused. Thanks to the more observant (and more knowledgeable) people who just cleared that up!

[der_Artur]

Elephant is correct...that's exactly how that scene played out.

You get to see a benshi (film narrator) in action. [...]

Michael, are there other movies that show benshi in action? "Untamed" sounds interesting just because of this one scene.

[Sanjuro]

I seem to recall a scene at the cinema in Shindo Kaneto's Chikuzan Hitori Tabi with Chikuzan providing the music as the Benshi performs.