Ginza Cosmetics

Something of a Japanese answer to the neorealist movement concurrently flowering in Europe, Mikio Naruse’s lyrical, quietly moving portrait of everyday endurance in Tokyo’s bustling Ginza district recounts a few days in the life of a luckless, middle-aged geisha (the heartbreakingly great Kinuyo Tanaka) as she weathers setbacks and disappointments while trying to eke out a living for herself and her young son. Forgoing artificial dramatics in favor of an almost documentary-like naturalism, Naruse crafts a bittersweet breakthrough whose slice-of-life texture possesses a startlingly vivid power.