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Synopsis

This lyrical adaptation of the beloved Japanese novel by Junichiro Tanizaki was a late-career triumph for world-class director Kon Ichikawa. Revolving around the changing of the seasons, The Makioka Sisters (Sasame-yuki) follows the lives of four sisters who have taken on their family’s kimono manufacturing business, over the course of a number of years leading up to the Pacific War. The two oldest have been married for some time, but according to tradition, the rebellious youngest sister cannot wed until the third, conservative and terribly shy, finds a husband. This graceful study of a family at a turning point in history is a poignant evocation of changing times and fading customs, shot in rich, vivid colors. –The Criterion Collection

Director

Original

Kon Ichikawa

Kon Ichikawa was considered one of the masters of the immediate postwar generation of Japanese filmmakers, a generation often overshadowed by the titanic presence of Akira Kurosawa. Unlike Kurosawa, Ichikawa imbued his films with a sense of irony that swings from the sardonic to the compassionate. Born in 1915 in southern Mie Prefecture, Ichikawa grew up a sickly child and spent much of his childhood drawing. Like Kurosawa, he aspired to be a painter. He also grew to be an enthusiastic movie fan, seeing most of the early samurai epics by Daisuke Ito and Masahiro Makino while marveling at Charles Chaplin films. Yet it was Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies series that proved to be a revelation for Ichikawa, as he realized that animation could combine his passions for art and for movies. After finishing technical school in Osaka in the 1930s, he got a job at the animation department of J.O. studios just as it was expanding from a rental film house to a full-fledged production company. As… read more

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Daniela

12May12

I liked it. Cool camerawork. The OP scene was probably the best part.

Aprilia DS

26Mar12

sisterhood with the travelling trust. itsumo kazoku wa hontou ni ichiban taisetsu na mono.

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Judicial Joe

25Nov11

Involving but never really pulled me in the way I wanted it to.

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Roscoe

11May11

A lovely, bittersweet family story. It might seem to meander, but it all comes together in the end. A lot more is going on than meets the eye on a first viewing. Impeccable performances, beautiful production, only a terribly dated synthesizer score dates the film.

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W184

"The Makioka Sisters," "Extraordinary Stories," More

By David Hudson on May 4, 2011

Updated through 5/5. A new 35mm print of Kon Ichikawa's The Makioka Sisters opens today at New York's Film Forum, playing through May 12

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Music from Makioka Sisters

1 post by 1 person 5 months ago

The long wait is over

4 posts by 3 people 12 months ago