The DVD title is mistakenly stated as "Okuni and Gohei" which is another movie directed by the same director, Naruse Mikio, in the same year of 1952. Saw "Lightning" a few years ago during the Naruse Mikio retrospective a few years ago at the Japanese Association and thought the film look suspicously similar to it from the opening scene. Quite confirmed that it is the same film when I finished watching it as I found several other scenes that look similar.
The story is about a family of an old woman and four children, each from different fathers. The youngest daughter, Kiyoko, is frustrated living in the family. Her eldest brother in law is unfaithful, her second sister hangs out with a rich guy and her brother is jobless and plays pachinko all day. She is also being pressured to marry the rich guy whom her second sisters hangs out with, whom she dislikes.
Interesting look at how the family members interacted with each other! Great acting by the actress who played Kiyoko! She looks quite cool in her bus conductress uniform! Found out from this link that the director has made another film on bus conductresses, "Hideko the Bus Conductress" a few years earlier! Would be great if I have the chance to watch that together with "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" and "Yearning"!
Internet Movie Database Link
No comments:
Post a Comment