Wednesday, 8 October 2025

Towering Waves / 波の塔 / Nami no to (1960)

Obscure Japanese Film #221

 

Ineko Arima and Masahiko Tsugawa

Miyuki Kuwano

 

Koji Nanbara and Kyoko Kishida

 

Hiroshi Nihonyanagi

 

Ineko Arima

 


Sunday, 5 October 2025

Asu wa Nihon bare / 明日は日本晴れ (‘Tomorrow will be Fine Weather in Japan’, 1948)

Obscure Japanese Film #220

 

Michitaro Mizushima and Wakako Kunitomo

 

Like writer-director Hiroshi Shimizus earlier Mr Thank You (1936) and Dawn Chorus (1941), this film is set almost entirely in (or at times just outside) a bus and was shot on location. In this case, there are similarities with Maupassants famous story Boule de Suif, which had also served as the basis for Mizoguchis  Oyuki the Virgin (1935) and John Fords Stagecoach (1939) and had appeared in Japanese translation by 1938 (if not earlier). Although most internet sources credit Shimizu with the screenplay, the opening titles of the film credit Shin’ichi Sekizawa. ‘Mingo’ at Filmarks.com states that Sekizawa used John Steinbeck’s 1947 novel The Wayward Bus as inspiration, but points out that the film has little in common with it (other than the basic idea of a bus full of random people having their journey interrupted). 

 

Wakako Kunitomo

 

In any case, like Maupassant, Shimizu and Sekizawa throw together a motley assortment of characters to represent a microcosm of society specifically, post-war Japanese society in this instance. The tart with a heart is Waka (Wakako Kunitomo), who happens to be an old flame of bus driver Seiji (Michitaro Mizushima), and was forced to prostitute herself during the war to provide for her sick father. Her presence is resented by bus conductress Sachi (Sachiko Mitani), who of course is in love with Seiji, but if this all sounds like a terrible bunch of old clichés so far, don’t let that put you off. 

 

Shinobu Araki

 

More unexpectedly, a former general (Shinobu Araki) is portrayed very sympathetically as a man carrying a burden of sincere guilt and attempting to make amends. Also on the bus are a masseur who was blinded in the war (Shin’ichi Himori), a porter who lost a leg in it (well played by real-life amputee Gosho Shoichi, who also appeared in Shimizu’s Children of the Beehive and its first sequel) and Mie, a teenage girl who was orphaned by it. Intriguingly, the only character portrayed in an unsympathetic light is a fortune-teller (Seijiro Mayama), who is depicted as lazy and selfish. Why Shimizu and Sekizawa chose a character of this particular profession to be so negative about we can only speculate, but my theory is that he represents the empty promises of a better future that were made to the Japanese people by their militaristic government; virtually everyone on the bus is in some way a victim of the misplaced trust they put in authority. 

 

Shin'ichi Himori and Gosho Shoichi

 

Running just over an hour and lacking any big stars, this might be a modest little movie, but Shimizu makes excellent use of the restricted setting and mountain road locations, while the acting is remarkably strong all round. It’s also a thoughtful film with a positive, humanist message, but it wears it lightly and Shimizu was not one to beat you round the head with it. 

 

Seijiro Mayama

 

If it seems surprising that a film by Hiroshi Shimizu should be quite so obscure, that’s because it was considered lost until 2022, when it was finally found in a Shochiku warehouse (strange, as it was an independent production distributed by Toho) and screened for the first time in 74 years.

Watch on my YouTube channel with English subtitles here

Thanks to A.K. 


Sunday, 28 September 2025

Kirai Kirai Kirai / 嫌い嫌い嫌い / (‘Hate hate hate’, 1960)

 

Ichiro Sugai

Atsuko Kindaichi

 

Jiro Tamiya

 

Junko Kano

 
Sachiko Hidari

Bokuzen Hidari

 

Kazuko Matsuo

 


Tuesday, 23 September 2025

The Seasons of Love / 四季の愛欲 / Shiki no aiyoku (‘Four Seasons of Love’, 1958)

 

Shoji Yasui

 

Gyo (Shoji Yasui) is a famous writer married to self-centred model Ginko (Yuko Kusunoki), but their marriage is not registered and they have told few people about it, fearing that to make it public might damage their careers. Ginko hates Gyo’s mother, Urako (Isuzu Yamada), believing that she abandoned Gyo when he was a child and only got back in touch after he became famous so she could sponge off him. Now 48, Urako is a widow, but in many ways she behaves like a young woman and has a lover, Hirakawa (Tomo’o Nagai), who owns a fabric wholesale business (at one point, she even takes him to see a blue movie). 

 

Yuko Kusunoki

 
Tomo'o Nagai and Isuzu Yamada

She also has two other adult children. One, Momoko (Yoko Katsuragi), is married to the older Tatabe (Jukichi Uno), but does not love him even though he treats her kindly and they have a young son. Unfortunately, she’s fallen in love with Tatabe’s cousin, Akaboshi (Yuji Odaka), a two-faced womaniser who laughs at her love letters behind her back. (After he tears one up and throws it in the wastepaper basket, we see his secretary taping it back together so she can read it). 

 

Yoko Katsuragi and Yuji Odaka

 

Urako’s other daughter is Harue (Sanae Nakahara), who dislikes Ginko and wants her brother, Gyo, to dump her and date her friend, Shinako (Shinako Mine) instead. However, when he takes them both to a hot spring inn for a treat, he gets chatting to the barmaid, Yuriko (Misako Watanabe), and when she casually mentions being troubled by athlete’s foot, he jumps behind the bar, removes her socks and smears her toes with a remedy he happens to have handy, kick-starting a love affair… 

 

Misako Watanabe

 

This Nikkatsu production was based on a 1957 novel entitled Shiki no engi (‘The Four Seasons of Acting/Performance’) by Fumio Niwa (1904-2005), whose work also provided the basis for Women of Tokyo (1939), The Beloved Image (1960) and Four Sisters (1962) among other films. Like many films by director Ko Nakahira, it takes a pretty dim view of human nature on the whole, although in this case some of the characters are quite sympathetic despite the amount of adultery going on. In any case, it’s clear that we’re a long way from Ozu and the world of Tokyo Story here, and perhaps that’s partly the point. There’s no genial Chishu Ryu-type father figure in this film, nor any father figure at all for that matter. The screenplay was written by the intriguing if not very prolific Keiji Hasebe, also known for his collaborations with Shohei Imamura, so new-wavers like him and Nakahira were likely reacting against the cosier domestic dramas of Ozu and others. In fact, the ending piles coincidence on top of coincidence in a way that strongly suggests that Nakahira and Hasebe were taking the piss. 

 

Yoko Katsuragi

 

If you can accept the film’s (possibly deliberate) absurdities, there’s much to enjoy, with Isuzu Yamada and Yoko Katsuragi taking the acting honours among a strong cast. There’s also an effective score by Toshiro Mayuzumi, albeit one of his more conventional efforts.

Thanks to A.K.