RIP Hideko Takamine
I can’t write anything.
My all-time favorite Japanese actor and actress in the great Mikio Naruse film, When a Woman Ascends the Stairs. Tatsuya Nakadai and Hideko Takamine.
This is Yearning, isn’t it? My own favorite.
Takamine on Naruse:
“Mr. Naruse was more than merely reticent; he was a person whose refusal to talk was downright malicious. even during the shooting of a picture, he would never say if something was good or bad, interesting or trite. He was a completely unresponsive director. I appeared in about twenty of his films, so it was always up to me to decide how to act on my own… It was at the start of principle photography on the film Untamed that I mustered all my courage and addressed a question to Mr. Naruse.
“’How should I approach this role?’
“’It’ll be over before you know it.’
“This was all the answer I was to recieve before he lapsed into his usual silence, and I was caught in my own trap. What a mean old man!”
I love that quote.
Few, if any, have ever come near Takamine’s skill. This is intensely sad news.
I think here’s a better screencap for Floating Clouds Jerry but kudos for the film choice.
“Few, if any, have ever come near Takamine’s skill.”
That’s actually a major exaggeration but….
….first Jennifer Jones, now Hideko…all the primordial hot ladies are slowly disappearing, sigh…
86 years old, whew…
That’s terrible news, such a lovely actress. Tomorrow I’m going to rewatch Naruse’s “Yearning”.
^ I watched Yearning last night for the first time, and she was gorgeous, one of her finest works. A terrible lost :’(
R.I.P. :( One of the best, and most beautiful.
’It’ll be over before you know it.’
RIP
I don’t know her in any films that I’ve watched, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t say R.I.P.
Mz Takamine has ascended the final staircase. R.I.P
So I respect the whole mourning of Hideko the same way I did with Satoshi Kon, Eric Rohmer etc…but why do I notice so many “Christian” references? In my opinion, Hideko has turned into a ghost and she’s probably enjoying herself with other ghost-lovers since in the afterlife, you can turn into any age you wish to be. I don’t think any “heaven” fits her ;)
R.i.P. One of the the most gorgeous actresses ever.
She was born just 2 days after Kyo Machiko. I associate her with the sea, born Hakodate in the South of Hokkaido, then famously at Shodoshima in the sun of the inland sea for 24 Eyes and further south for the stormy finale of Floating Clouds. For me. she epitomised a basic honesty, integrity, persevering spirt and openness (winning cheerfulness in Hideko the Bus Conductress, her first with Naruse), ideally suited to the subtle nunces of Naruse, not at all an ostentatious type, but nor a too fragile shrinking violet. I can see why she’s been Blue’s favourite- among so many lovely and talented actresses of Japan’s classic golden age.
Threads here on dross, and not much interest in such a great figure of world cinema
i tried to come up with a haiku for her- it’s so hard, beyond me really
A lily opened-
faint sounds of children’s voices
and a storm at sea
So few clips of her in Naruse films on YouTube, someone should upload some!
Sad, she was so great.
I don’t know what to say….so special.
:((
Hope this revives the thread. And thank you, Scorpio, for that breathtaking image of Hideko-chan. I never noticed how beautiful her teeth were. Ah…
Shit! I didn’t hear about this and she was my favorite Japanese actress of all time. RIP Ms. Takamine, you feisty woman you.
A short piece by Dan Sallitt on Takamine in Naruse films over at The Daily Notebook today, I hope to write a small general piece for tomorrow as well.
I had no idea about this sad news until a few hours ago and I am devastated now,
I respect her and Naruse more than anybody else.
Not ready to say RIP.
Please Acatinny what is the name of the film of the first clip – with Hideko singing on the road in the mountains …it is so beautiful, and makes me very sad to watch…..
Sorry to bring back such an old topic but I went to a screening of Carmen Comes Home this week in aid of Earthquake Relief and I was reminded of the versatility and vitality of this wonderful actress. Japanese cinema would not be the same without her, she was a real pioneer in terms of showing what an actress can do and continues to be a role model for many Japanese actress today. I’m hoping to start reading her published diaries to find out more about her.
She was a rare talent and will be missed.
By the way, HOLYPHOOL, the film in the first clip of ACATINNY’s was “Hana-tsumi Nikki (1939)”
Blue K, Custodian of the Cinema
One of the most beautiful, talented, and prolific actresses in history of cinema died on Dec. 28. She is most well-known outside of Japan for her work with Mikio Naruse. But she was considered something of an equivalent to Shirley Temple as a child and regularly appeared in films from 1929 to 1979.