Friday, November 12, 2010

When A Woman Ascends the Stairs

Japan Mikio Naruse

A great film...as good as anything from the classic, post-war period.

A Ginza bar hostess navigates her way through a male-dominated world...trying to maintain her integrity, her dignity. Film was helped immensely by the lead performance of Hideko Takamine. Her grace, intelligence, beauty and ability to subtly convey the full range of human emotions was world-class.

Naruse has been unknown in the West which is really unfortunate...he is at least the equal of the big three...Kurosawa, Ozu, Mizoguchi...and in this film...perhaps his masterwork...he surpasses them.

10

No comments:

Post a Comment