Programmed July 2022

Setsuko Hara: Japan’s Most Beloved Star

No actress represents the golden age of Japanese cinema more fully than Setsuko Hara, whose radiant, compassionate presence made her nothing less than the living symbol of the changing role of women in Japanese society. Beginning her career at age fifteen, she appeared in more than one hundred films, including works by Akira Kurosawa ( No Regrets for Our Youth , The Idiot ) and Mikio Naruse ( Repast , Sound of the Mountain ). But it is her six collaborations with Yasujiro Ozu—including the masterpieces Late Spring and Tokyo Story —for which she will always be best remembered. Portraying selfless women navigating the tensions between family, tradition, and generational sea change, she illuminated the screen with performances of unparalleled subtlety and grace.

Still watchable end to end