Drama
Japanese (楢山節考)
1983 · Directed by Shōhei Imamura · 130 min
In a poor mountain village, survival depends on strict customs, and one of them governs what happens to the old. Orin, nearly seventy, tries to set her household in order before her own turn comes. Imamura films the story with an anthropologist's curiosity and a refusal to sentimentalise.
Why it matters in cinema history
A defining work of the later Japanese auteur cinema. It shows how a post-1960s generation reworked an earlier folk tale and rejected the polished humanism of the studio-era masters.
Watch with intention
Watch it as a study of a society's rules, and notice how closely the humans are observed beside the animals around them.
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