The Ballad of Narayama (1983 film)

 

Based on the book Men of Tohuku by Shichiro Fukazawa, The Ballad of Narayama is the story about a practice in which young people carry the elderly towards a mountain upon they reach the age of 70 so they can die as an old woman tries to find her son a wife to be with. Written and directed for the screen by Shohei Imamura, the film is the study of a traditional practice in Japan as a man copes with saying goodbye to his mother but also dealing with a new life he must take part in. Starring Ken Ogata, Sumiko Sakamoto, Takejo Aki, Tonpei Hidari, Seiji Kurasaki, Kaoru Shimamori, Ryutaro Tatsumi, Junko Takada, Shoichi Ozawa, Nijiko Kiyokawa, and Mitsuko Baisho. The Ballad of Narayama is a ravishing and haunting film from Shohei Imamura.

Set in 19th Century Japan in a small rural village, the film revolves around an old woman who has just turned 69 as she spends the last year of her life to arrange her affairs for her son and others in her family before she is to be carried towards a mountain where she is to die. It is a film that revolves around an old woman who realizes that she is about to reach an age where she can’t be useful despite the fact that she’s still in good health. Shohei Imamura’s screenplay is largely straightforward in its narrative as it plays more into a family of farmers trying to maintain their livelihood in the course of a year as their matriarch Orin (Sumiko Sakamoto) realizes she’s set to turn 70 in a year as her eldest son Tatsuhei (Ken Ogata) is a widower with three kids including a baby that needs a mother. Her eldest grandson Kesakichi (Seiji Kurasaki) is already having an affair with a young woman in Matsuyan (Junko Takada) who is from a family of suspected thieves while her youngest son Risuke (Tonpei Hidari) is an oddball known for smelling bad and is still a virgin who is desperate to get laid.

The script also plays into the family coping with poverty and bad luck despite the fact that Tatsuhei would get a wife in a woman named Tamayan (Takejo Aki) from another village as they also deal with politics within the village as well as gossip about the woman’s husband who had disappeared and was ignorant towards the tradition at the village about carrying those who turn 70 to be sent to the mountain top where it would be their final resting place. The script also plays into this village with odd traditions in the way they deal with thieves but also what they do to children when they die because they couldn’t feed it as it has some odd traditions with no sense of logic other than being traditional. Yet, there are also odd things such as a recent widow in Oei (Mitsuko Baisho) who would sleep with other men as a prostitute yet refuses to sleep with Risuke. It would all add to this sense of chaos that forces Orin to settle everything with Tatsuhei having to carry her to the mountain.

Imamura’s direction is definitely entrancing for the way he presents the film in this natural setting as the locations are key to the film as they’re shot on the Niigata and Nagano Prefecture regions in Japan with its vast mountains and fields being its centerpiece. Imamura uses a lot of wide and medium shots to play into the locations but also maintain an intimacy as it relates to the characters at their home no matter how small it is as well as close-ups of the characters but also animals. Imamura would often shoot animals to play up this sense of naturalism as well as an environment that is also unforgiving similar to the way villagers are towards those who threaten their livelihood. Shots featuring snakes eating rats or owls eating a mouse are often shown while Imamura also uses some unique tracking shots to play into how vast the landscape is as much of the film’s first two acts take place in the village and areas around it.

The film also plays into some intense sexuality in the way men crave for it as Risuke is someone that is in need of it despite the fact that he never bathes. Some of it goes into near explicit territory as it plays into the sexual politics of the villagers although the women do have some sense of control when it comes to running the household as it would be something Orin would pass upon towards Tamayan before she goes to the mountains. The film’s third act is about the journey Orin and Tatsuhei as well as revelations about Tatsuhei’s father that the latter reveals as he had been the source of all of the bad luck Orin and her family endured. The journey towards the mountain is a treacherous one as Tatsuhei has to carry Orin on his back as there are elements of surrealism, spiritual imagery, and realism that play into this journey with revelations into what Tatsuhei would have to endure when his time is coming. Overall, Imamura crafts an intoxicating yet wondrous film about a woman settling matters before her son takes her to a mountain where she would die.

Cinematographers Hiroshi Kanazawa, Shigeru Komatsubara, and Masao Tochizawa do incredible work with the film’s cinematography as its emphasis on natural lighting for many of its exterior settings including the usage of low-key artificial lighting for a few of the interior/exterior scenes at night. Editors Toshihiko Kojima, Fusako Matsumoto, Hajime Okayasu, Yoshiko Onodera, and Matsahito Watanabe do excellent work with the editing as it is largely straightforward in its rhythmic cuts while using some stylized slow-motion and odd frame-speeds for some of the surreal and haunting moments. Production designer Goro Kusakabe, along with art directors Hisao Inagaki and Tadataka Yoshino plus set decorators Senki Nakamura and Mitsuto Washizawa, does amazing work with the design of the home that Orin and her family live in as well as the village and the look of the mountaintop for the film’s climax in its eerie detail. Costume designer Kyoto Isho does fantastic work with the costumes as it is largely straightforward with the robes and such that the men and women wear with some of it being ragged as it plays into the struggle the villagers in their environment.

The special effects work of Yoshio Kojima is terrific for some of the film’s minimal effects work for a few scenes in the mountain as it plays into its mystique and ghost-like atmosphere. The sound work of Kenichi Benitani is brilliant for its sound design in the way nature sounds from their locations as well as the usage of natural sounds on location including some eerie moments that play into the suspense and drama. The film’s music by Shin’ichiro Ikebe is phenomenal for its immense music score filled with low-key string and percussive arrangements along with elements of synthesizers and electric bass to create a mood that adds to the sense of the unknown as it relates to spirits along with natural elements that occur throughout the film as it is a major highlight of the film.

The film’s wonderful ensemble cast feature some notable small roles from Norihei Miki as an elderly salt dealer that Orin knows who tells him about Tamayan, Akio Yokoyama as a neighbor who is suspected of theft, Sachie Shimura as the neighbor’s wife also suspected of theft, Ryutaro Tatsumi as an old neighbor, Kaoru Shimamori as Tatsuhei’s young son Tomekichi, Shoichi Ozawa as a village elder who is the head of the village, Niijiko Kiyokawa as female villager whom Orin bargains with as it relates to Risuke, and Mitsuko Baisho as a recent widow in Oei who had been frustrated with her husband as she chooses to become a prostitute. Junko Takada is superb as Matsuyan who is in a relationship with Kesakichi as she would become part of his family though Orin feels she is crowding things as she is associated with a family accused of theft. Seiji Kurasaki is fantastic as Tatsuhei’s eldest son Kesakichi as a young man who is in love although he is pondering her role for the family.

Tonpei Hidari is excellent as Tatsuhei’s younger brother Risuke as a virginal villager who smells terribly as he is also desperate to lose his virginity while being this oddball in the community. Takejo Aki is brilliant as Tamayan as a widow that Tatsuhei would marry as she helps the family out while also learning a secret from Orin that would help the family. Sumiko Sakamoto is amazing as Orin as the family matriarch who is about to turn 70 as she decides to settle all of her business before she goes to the mountain as well as deal with gossip and stories about her as there’s a gracefulness to her performance. Finally, there’s Ken Ogata in an incredible performance as Tatsuhei as Orin’s eldest son who is trying to run the family household while also aware of the role he has to play for his mother while also dealing with issues relating to his late father whom he wasn’t fond of as well as the terror of his journey at the mountains.

The Ballad of Narayama is a tremendous film from Shohei Imamura. Featuring a great ensemble cast, gorgeous visuals, a grounded setting, a study of loss and facing death, evocative sound work, and a rich music score by Shin’ichiro Ikebe. It is a film that explores a family having to let their matriarch go with her eldest son doing a task that is deemed traditional as he is forced to face his own journey. In the end, The Ballad of Narayama is a spectacular film from Shohei Imamura.

Related: The Ballad of Narayama (1958 film)

Shohei Imamura Films: (Stolen Desire) – (Nishi Ginza Station) – (Endless Desire) – (My Second Brother) – (Pigs and Battleship) – (The Insect Woman) – (Unholy Desire) – (The Pornographers) – (A Man Vanishes) – (The Profound Desire of the Gods) – (History of Postwar Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess) – (Karayuki-san, the Making of a Prostitute) – (Vengeance is Mine (1979 film)) – (Eijanaika) – (Zegen) – (Black Rain (1989 film)) – (The Eel) – (Dr. Akagi) – (Warm Water Under a Red Bridge) – 11’09”01-September 11-Japan

© thevoid99 2024

11'9"01 September 11

11’9”01 September 11 is an anthology film of 11 short films by some of the world’s revered filmmakers as they each make a short film about 9/11 based on an idea by Alain Brigand. With each short having a running time of 11 minutes and nine seconds and one frame about 9/11, it allows each filmmaker from different countries to respond about the infamous attacks on September 11, 2001. The result is a fascinating anthology film from some of the world’s best filmmakers.

Iran (written and directed by Samira Makhmalbaf) is about a schoolteacher (Maryam Karimi) trying to teach young Afghan kids about what had just happened as they look at a tall chimney stack to think about the attacks in New York City. In France (directed by Claude Lelouch and written by Claude Lelouch and Pierre Uytterhoeven), a deaf woman (Emmanuelle Laborit) writes a letter to her American boyfriend (Jerome Horry) who is working at the World Trade Center as she is unaware of what is happening. Egypt (written and directed by Youssef Chahine) is about a documentary filmmaker (Nour El-Sherif) communicating with a dead soldier (Ahmed Haroun) from the 1983 Beirut bombing as they try to make sense of war and what happened in the U.S.

Bosnia-Herzegovina (written and directed by Danis Tanovic) is the story of a young woman (Dzana Pinjo) going to a protest rally, much to the wishes of her mother (Tatjana Sojic), as she meets her legless friend (Aleksandar Seksan) where the events of 9/11 threatens the rally. Burkina Faso (written and directed by Idrissa Ouedraogo) has a young boy (Lionel Zizreel Guire) claiming to see Osama Bin Laden as he rallies his friends to hunt him down for the reward money so they can help his ailing mother. In United Kingdom (directed by Ken Loach and written by Paul Laverty, Ken Loach, & Vladimir Vega), Vladimir Vega writes a letter to the people of 9/11 as he talks about the 1973 Chilean coup d’etat that happened on that same date. Mexico (written and directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu) is a short that collects brief images of bodies falling from the Twin Towers with sounds of what is happening on a black screen.

In Israel (directed by Amos Gitai and written by Amos Gitai and Marie Jose Sanselme), a soldier (Liron Levo), an officer (Tomer Russo) deal with a car bombing while a news reporter (Keren Mor) tries to cover what happened only to learn about what happened in NYC. India (directed by Mira Nair and written by Sabrina Dhawan) is the true story of an Islamic family wondering the whereabouts of a man who is rumored to be a terrorist. United States of America (written and directed by Sean Penn) is about a widower (Ernest Borgnine) who believes his wife is still around until light appears for his flowers. In Japan (directed by Shohei Imamura and written by Daisuke Tengan), a man (Tomorowo Taguchi) returns from World War II acting like a snake causing trouble among people from his village.

9/11 was a tragedy that really affected the world about terrorism and the chaos following the attacks. Yet, it’s not an American event that happened but also the world as the film is about how the world reacted to an event as catastrophic as 9/11. For 11 filmmakers, each one had to make a short with a running time of 11 minutes and nine seconds so they can each shed provide insight into how they feel about what happened on that day. The overall result is a film that has some great segments, some decent ones, and one that is really ridiculous.

The film starts off innocently by Samira Makhmalbaf who creates a story about a schoolteacher trying to teach her young students about what just happened. For these young Afghani refugee kids whose parents are building a shelter in wake of what just happened, they’re not exactly sure what happened as they’re talking. Yet, it’s all about the innocence of children trying to understand that they’re world is going to change. Makhmalbaf’s short along with Idrissa Ouedraogo’s short in Burkina Faso has an air of innocence that isn’t displayed often as the latter is about a boy wanting to capture Osama Bin Laden to get reward money for his ailing mother with the help of his friends.

These two shorts are among the highlights of the anthology film as both filmmakers each provide their own ideas about what happened at 9/11. Others like Claude Lelouch, Danis Tanovic, and Mira Nair provide more personal stories about the attacks on a more dramatic scale. While Lelouch uses 9/11 as a dramatic plot-point in this story of a woman wanting to leave her boyfriend, Tanovic puts a bit of politics over the events of Bosnia-Herzegovina as the woman wanting to protest finds a bigger reason to do her protest. Nair’s story is based on the true story of a young Islamic-American man lost during 9/11 as his family is forced to confront the possibilities that he’s a terrorist where they’re suddenly isolated by neighbors over a misunderstanding while it’s ending is a lesson about prejudices and loss.

Directors like Youssef Chahine and Amos Gitai both provide some political ideas about their own situations of 9/11 in relation to the Middle East. While Chahine’s segment is a bit over-stylized with its story of a director talking to a soldier, it does provide a point about the fallacies of war and conflict no matter what side anyone is on. Gitai’s short is shot entirely in one continuous short as a car bomb attack happens as a reporter tries to reveal what is going though she’s being cut off by her editor about 9/11 as she tries to state all the important tragedies that occurred on September 11th. It’s a chaotic segment though it tries to reveal that just because something happened in the U.S. doesn’t mean that the tragedies in Israel shouldn’t be ignored as it’s a good short despite having a heavy-handed message.

The Japanese short provided by Shohei Imamura, in his final work as a filmmaker, is the one that deviates from everything that is about 9/11 as it’s more about the aftermath of war and its effects on soldiers. Though it’s the short that doesn’t seem to fit in, the final message about the fallacy of Holy War does make a compelling point about what Imamura wants to say. The most shocking and most harrowing short comes from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu as his segment is just a simple tale of all of chaos happening as brief images of bodies jumping off the tower and then fade-to-black for sounds of bodies hitting the ground. It is definitely the most uncomfortable one in the entire film yet it ends with the words “Does God’s light guide us or blind us?” as Inarritu is asking more questions rather than provide answers about this tragedy.

With the highlights of the film coming from Nair, Inarritu, Ouedraogo, and Makhmalbaf with really good ones from Lelouch and Tanovic, the best segment comes from Ken Loach. Loach’s short about Vladimir Vega’s experience about his September 11 tragedy back in 1973 Chile when Pinochet overthrew Salvador Allende is one of the most haunting stories told. With Vega both narrating and singing about what happened as he writes a letter to Americans about what they’re dealing with. It’s also a reminder that he hopes they don’t forget about what happened in Chile and the role they played into Allende’s overthrow and his death on that day either by suicide or murder. It’s also a sad reminder that though Vega lives happily in England with his family, he could never return to Chile over what happened.

With Loach’s short being the best for its mix of personal storytelling and political insight, the worst one comes from Sean Penn. Despite a great performance from Ernest Borgnine, it’s definitely one of the most ridiculous as it’s about a widower wanting light outside of his house so the flowers would bloom as he talks to his wife as if she’s still here. The ending is without a doubt one of the worst as it involves one of the towers falling and sunlight appears for the flowers to bloom. The ending might be offensive to people though Penn was probably not intending to do that though he approaches it in a very bad way.

While there’s some great technical moments in some of the shorts, notably the ones by Gitai, Loach, Inarritu, and Lelouch in terms of photography, sound design, and music score. Each short is presented by a transitional scene of the world map as it plays to soft electronic music and later a somber orchestral piece that is provided by Alexandre Desplat. This way, it allows each short to be unified into one film as it ends up being one of the most intriguing yet powerful anthology films about one of the most horrifying events of the 21st Century.

11’9”01 September 11 is an excellent anthology about the world’s reaction to 9/11. With some great pieces by Samira Makhmalbaf, Mira Nair, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Idrissa Ouedraogo, and an outstanding one from Ken Loach. It’s a film that emphasizes that 9/11 is a world event that shook up everything that happened. While it’s not an easy film to watch due to its subject matter, it does allow audience a chance to see what other countries think about what happened and how it relates to their own feelings. In the end, 11’9”01 September 11 is an extraordinary though chilling film about the horrors of 9/11.

© thevoid99 2011