The Ballad of Narayama
楢山節考
Japan • 1958
Director
#645Criterion Collection →Synopsis
This haunting, kabuki-inflected version of a Japanese folk legend is set in a remote mountain village where food is scarce and tradition dictates that citizens who have reached their seventieth year must be carried to the summit of Mount Narayama and left there to die. The sacrificial elder at the center of the tale is Orin (Kinuyo Tanaka), a dignified and dutiful woman who spends her dwindling days securing the happiness of her loyal widowed son with a respectable new wife. Filmed almost entirely on cunningly designed studio sets, in brilliant color and widescreen, THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA is a stylish and vividly formal work from Japan’s cinematic golden age, directed by the dynamic Keisuke Kinoshita.
Synopsis
This haunting, kabuki-inflected version of a Japanese folk legend is set in a remote mountain village where food is scarce and tradition dictates that citizens who have reached their seventieth year must be carried to the summit of Mount Narayama and left there to die. The sacrificial elder at the center of the tale is Orin (Kinuyo Tanaka), a dignified and dutiful woman who spends her dwindling days securing the happiness of her loyal widowed son with a respectable new wife. Filmed almost entirely on cunningly designed studio sets, in brilliant color and widescreen, THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA is a stylish and vividly formal work from Japan’s cinematic golden age, directed by the dynamic Keisuke Kinoshita.
Criterion Closet Pick
(1)
Credits
Crew
DirectorKeisuke Kinoshita
WriterKeisuke Kinoshita
CinematographerHiroshi Kusuda
ComposerChūji Kinoshita, Matsunosuke Nozawa
EditorYoshi Sugihara
ProducerMasaharu Kokaji, Ryuzo Otani