Night Drum

A woman (Ineko Arima) begins an adulterous affair while her samurai husband (Rentaro Mikuni) is away, unleashes a wave of tragedy in this devastating condemnation of feudal Japan’s stifling moral code. Unfolding in an intricate flashback structure as authorities attempt to unravel the truth of the woman’s alleged infidelity—an offense that, according to the law of the time, is punishable by death—this adaptation of a play by celebrated writer Monzaemon Chikamatsu has been cited as the crowning achievement of socially conscious director Tadashi Imai.