Repast

A watershed work in the career of master director Mikio Naruse, REPAST marked the beginning of his extraordinary late-career renaissance. The first of a string of adaptations that Naruse would direct based on the work of feminist writer Fumiko Hayashi, REPAST stars Setsuko Hara as Michiyo, a loving wife whose five-year marriage to Hatsu (Ken Uehara) seems to be threatened by the visit of his young cousin Satako (Yukiko Shimazaki). The tension between them as her spouse seems to stray and her decision about what to do is conveyed via the supremely subtle yet intensely focused style that would become the filmmaker’s signature.