According to a village tradition that emerged due to a lack of food, every person who turns seventy must go to Narayama Mountain to die. The time is getting near for Orin, who has just turned sixty nine. Before taking her final journey she tries to ensure a good future for her sons. Soon a messenger arrives from the neighboring village who claims that he has found a suitable wife for one of the sons.
The film won the Golden Palm in Cannes in 1983.
This story takes place in the second half of the nineteenth century, during the last days of the Togukawa shogunate. After almost two centuries of isolation, the country slowly begins opening up to the West, which causes some major social changes which are explored through the main character. A Japanese peasant who had spent several years in America after his boat sank has now returned to his home country…
This satire of Japan’s imperialist tendencies is illustrated through the character of Iheiji Muraoke, a pimp who combines his entrepreneurial spirit and patriotism by opening brothels for Japanese soldiers stationed all over Southeast Asia. In the beginning of the twentieth century, Iheiji Muraoka jumped off of a ship and ended up in Hong Kong. With no money or home, he starts to work as a barber’s apprentice. When the Japanese consulate sends him on a spy mission in Manchuria, he thinks of a br...
