Kyle Lewis
12Apr11
I recently just saw this one. Naruse is the man.
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STEPHLEE414
5Apr12
this film has a rather progressive portrayal of women, which is quintessential to film noir. Mama is a femme fatale who plays by her own rules not by those of the men, and she is constantly blowing off her customers. Still, being trapped in a male dominated society, the many men who are her patrons, and who her friends gossip about saying “Mama has too many patrons,” confine her with their desires for her. Although she doesn’t resort to murder like many femme fitales in film noir, her friend who owns a nightclub commits suicide because she handle the debt she owed to her investors. Kieko’s fate is either going to be marriage or for her to own a bar, and the film portrays both of them as bleak. The film’s dominant world-view is that society is hopeless and claustrophobic
menencorio and 2 others like this
Life as Fiction
12Apr11
Hideko Takamine: Graceful, elegant, beautiful and breathtaking. You shall be missed.
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Life as Fiction
17Apr11
Still mixed on Naruse, but Takamine, Wakao and Hara are women capable of elevating everything they appear in to a different level.
Mathieu Langlois
25Jan11
Hideko Takamine and Tatsuya Nakadai in the same movie. What could possibly go wrong?
sodr2 likes this
Mitchell Brown
20Jan11
Incredibly moving. One of the great film performances of all time by Hideko Takamine. Why isn't this better known? Why are there no other Naruse availble in region 1 DVD format?
Hooligan69
13Dec09
Watched this for the first time this morning. Excellent movie. My introduction to the works of Mikio Naruse.
Robert W Peabody III
12Nov09
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960) Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki DIR Mikio Naruse Her soul was redeemed at the train station - by love, not money. _It had been a bleak ordeal, like a harsh winter. But the trees that line the streets can sprout new buds no matter how cold the wind. I too must be just as strong as the winds that gust around me._
Ally the Manic Listmaker
27Sep09
Excellent! It is a story everyone can relate to, although when I first saw it, it seemed highly personal. I was trying to save up for a down payment on a house, but no matter how good my credit was or how much I had, it wasn't the right timing. So the story obviously moved me.