Posted in : Movies| Tagged : Akira Kurosawa , Japan Society , Nipponese film , Kenji Mizoguchi , metrograph , Mikio Naruse , Mikio Naruse : The World Betrays Us , Yasujiro Ozu
Mikio Naruse : The World Betrays Us , the biggest retrospective of the Japanese master ’s moving picture , is coming to New York City in May .
Article Summary
Japan Society and Metrograph in New York City will co - presentMikio Naruse : The World Betrays Us , a 30 - film retrospective devoted toMikio Naruse , the " fourth heavy " master of Japanese cinema , from May 9th through June 29th . Co - unionize with The Japan Foundation , New York , the two - part serial publication will offer the first major New York survey of this signal studio apartment - era filmmaker ’s body of work in 20 years , presented in commemoration of the hundred-and-twentieth day of remembrance of his birth and entirely on rare photographic print imported from collections and archive in Japan . Naruse may be less sleep with in the West than Kurosawa , Ozu , or Mizoguchi , but he is arguably the greatest and most influential Japanese filmmaker in cinema history , and a major influence on the aforementioned Nipponese masters of Cinema .
famous serial highlighting include all six of Naruse ’s adaptations of celebrated feminist authorFumiko Hayashi ’s piece of work ( Floating Clouds , Repast , Lightning , Wife , Late Chrysanthemums , A Wanderer ’s Notebook ) , as well as some of Naruse ’s rarest films , include the New York premieres of three pre - war gems not presented in premature retrospective : Morning ’s Tree - Lined Street , A Woman ’s Sorrows , andSincerity . This might be the biggest retrospective case of Naruse ’s work ever and should be think a major event .
A Quick Introduction to Mikio Naruse
Naruse ( b. 1905 – d. 1969 ) made films spanning nearly four decade and comprising 89 film , of which 68 survive . He lead off his life history at leading Japanese studio Shochiku , but , spoil by chance deny him in favor of the company ’s star directorYasujiro Ozu , quit to conjoin the newly formed P.C.L. , today famously known as Toho and popularized in the West by Naruse ’s one - time assistantAkira Kurosawa , who indite of his elder : " Mikio Naruse ’s elan is like a great river with a calm surface , and a raging current in its depths . " A contemporary of bothKenji Mizoguchiand his Quaker Ozu , Naruse won the admiration of peers and critic alike through his stylistically understate and unflinchingly observed melodrama , particularly those that confronted the experience and societal status of women in modern Japan within the shoshimin eiga genre ( motion picture of the lower middle social class ) .
start with his former speech sound masterpieceWife ! Be Like a Rose!(1935 ) , Naruse maintain a repute among actresses as a revere and in demand women ’s manager , who guided many of the earned run average ’s iconic thespian to some of their greatest public presentation from since dip pre - war stars likeSachiko Chiba(the aforementioned Rose and Naruse ’s one - time wife),Takako Irie(A Woman ’s Sorrows ) , andIsuzu Yamada(Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro)to post - war diva like Ozu and Mizoguchi associates Setsuko Hara ( Repast , Sound of the Mountain ) andKinuyo Tanaka(Mother),Haruko Sugimura(Late Chrysanthemums ) , Yoko Tsukasa ( Scattered Clouds ) , and above all Hideko Takamine ( pictured above ) with whom he collaborated 17 times , most notably on four of his Golden Age masterpiecesLightning , Floating Clouds , Flowing andWhen a Woman rise the Stairs .
A Great Artist but Imperfect Man, But Possibly Japan’s Greatest Filmmaker
Although so highly esteemed , the notoriously taciturn manager would often frustrate his co-worker by his reticence in explain his directorial purpose . In scant , he was a groovy artist but not the easiest guy to get along with . ActorTatsuya Nakadaisaid , " He was the most hard director I ever worked for . He never allege a word . A real syndicalist . " Naruse ’s saturnine and introverted demeanor nonetheless undergirded a quietly classless and reform-minded sensitivity , forbidding his assistants to call him " teacher " and supporting Tanaka ( The Eternal Breasts ) , who apprenticed with him for two months , as she sought to direct her own films . A in private angry creative person , who had struggled to bring up his family out of poorness , Naruse leave behind a stoic , uncompromising body of study that has continued to resonate with filmmakers from Taiwan’sHou Hsiao - hsientoRyusuke Hamaguchi , and stands as one of the essential corpora of modern film . Its composition of personal dreams blunted and step by step ground down by economical struggle , social inequality , and the failure of traditional norms only seem more relevant as the post - war bighearted consensus barrels toward crash . " From the earliest historic period , I have think that the populace we live in betrays us , " the director said , " this thought remains with me . "
Opening on Friday , May 9th with Naruse ’s unchallenged masterpieceFloating Cloudsand an possible action Nox response , Japan Society will present the 2nd John and Miyoko Davey Classic Film SeriesMikio Naruse : The World Betrays Us – Part I through Sunday , May 31st , which culminates with his withering late workYearning(1964 ) . In addition , Naruse scholarCatherine Russell , generator of The Cinema of Naruse Mikio : Women and Japanese Modernity , will represent a lecture at Japan Society on Saturday , May 31st .
Part II of the retrospective series open at Metrograph on Thursday , June 5th with Naruse ’s best have it away filmWhen a Woman Ascends the Stairs(1960 ) , followed by a reception at the theater host Japan Foundation , New York , and closes on Sunday , June 29th with his swan song Scattered Clouds ( 1967 ) .
The lineup forMikio Naruse : The World Betrays UsPart I ( May 9th – 31st)at Japan Society is at theirwebsite . Tickets are on sales event now athttps://japansociety.org/film/mikio-naruse-the-world-betrays-us/
The lineup forMikio Naruse : The World Betrays UsPart II ( June 5th – 29th ) at Metrograph is useable on theirwebsite . The Tickets are on sale now athttps://metrograph.com/category/mikio-naruse/
Enjoyed this ? Please share on social medium !
