Saraba Itoshiki Daichi
Japan,
1982, 130 min
Shown in 1983
CREDITS
- dir
-
Mitsuo Yanagimachi
- prod
-
Mitsuo Yanagimachi, Tetsuya Ikeda
- scr
-
Mitsuo Yanagimachi
- cam
-
Masaki Tamura
- editor
-
Sachiko Yamaji
- cast
-
Jimpachi Nezu, Kumiko Akiyoshi
-
COMMENTS
Part of New Directors series.
Greatly influenced by the realistic yet detached styles of Bresson, Mizoguchi and Ozu, director Mitsuo Yanagimachi tells a story of family rivalry and spiritual demoralization brought about by the sudden industrialization of farming lands in the Kashima district of Japan. The themes are timeless: the loss of land, the loss of nature and the disruption of life’s rhythms which usually accompany “progress.” Yukio Yamazawa barely makes a living. When his sons drown, he tattoos their names on his back, but erupts in increasingly violent rages thereafter. Though his wife becomes pregnant again, Yukio begins an affair with his brother’s former girlfriend. Four years later, unable to cope with his responsibilities, jealous of his brother’s prosperity and bitter about the destruction of a land that he loves, Yukio turns to drugs. Mitsuo Yanagimachi is one of Japan’s most talented young directors. His first feature, A 19-Year-Old’s Plan, about an increasingly rebellious newspaper delivery boy, played during the 1980 Cannes Critics Week.
—Ted Siminoski
FACTOID #191
The first screenwriter to receive a Festival tribute was Truman Capote in 1974. At the tribute he confessed that, in his opinion, Audrey Hepburn was too chic for the role of Holly Golightly. He would have preferred the then unknown Tammy Grimes for the role.
