Daily Archives: May 13, 2016

Flowing (Nagareru)
Directed by Mikio Naruse
Written by Toshirô Ide and Sumie Tanaka from a novel by Aya Kôda
1956/Japan
Toho Company
First viewing/Hulu

“The river is everywhere.” ― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

Japan’s greatest actresses gather in Naruse’s gentler story of aging geishas in a changing world.

Otsuta (Isuzu Yamada, Throne of Blood) runs a geisha house in Tokyo.  Her daughter Katsuyo (Hideko Takamine, When a Woman Ascends the Stairs) has no intention of becoming a geisha or taking over the business but helps out by keeping the books.  This is a painful task as the business is deeply in debt.  The geishas working at the house include Someko (Haruko Sugimura, Tokyo Story).  As the story begins, Otsuta hires the widowed Rika Yamanaka (Kinuyo Tanaka, Ugetsu etc. etc. etc.) as a maid.  The gentle Rika proves to be an ideal, loyal employee and becomes the confidant of many of the other women.

The story is episodic but centers on Otsuta’s efforts to stay afloat.  She seeks help from both her disapproving sister and from a female restaurant owner who hires geishas.  Even so, men will have to be the ultimate source of her financing.  By the end, it is clear she is no longer able to depend on their favors.  But life quietly goes on for Otsuta and her colleagues.

For me the highlight of this film was Tanaka’s performance in a role quite unlike anything I had ever seen her in.  She is the soul of the story.  The film is beautiful to look at as well.  It was interesting to see Naruse’s look at basically the same subject matter as covered by Mizoguchi in this year’s Street of Shame with much heightened drama.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRk1YJOQXyI

No trailer or clip so here’s some background on the director

Miracle in the Rain
Directed by Rudolph Maté
Written by Ben Hecht from a novel by Hecht
1956/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Netflix Rental

Ruth Wood: How can there be a God when things like this happen, people getting killed?

The plot of this romantic drama sounds very corny.  I cried and loved it.  Jane Wyman is perfect in her part.

The setting is 1942 New York City.  Ruth Wood (Wyman) is a shy office worker.  She spends most of her free time caring for her mother who became an invalid after Ruth’s father abruptly left her for another woman. What little fun she has is with her co-worker Grace Ullmann (Eileen Heckart).  One day, she is walking to the bus and gets caught in the rain.  PFC Art Hugenon (Van Johnson) takes the opportunity to chat her up.  The relentlessly cheerful Art talks non-stop. But that only makes him a perfect match for Ruth.

Art more or less talks himself into having dinner with Ruth and her mother.  He takes Ruth and Grace to the movies the next night.  After dinner, he takes them to a fancy French restaurant.  The piano player there just happens to be Ruth’s father who hasn’t seen Ruth since the day he left her mother.  He flees before she can know he is there.

The courtship proceeds and in short order the couple is in love.  But the romance is short-lived because Art is shipped overseas.   I’ll stop here.

I didn’t know anything about this film before I watched it and had fairly low expectations.  It looked like a real melodrama and in some ways it is.  The screenplay is so strong though and the acting is so good that it was a total joy.  Despite the plot framework the people and details seemed very real.  Jane Wyman plays Ruth with a simplicity that is really winning.  The large cast of supporting characters is very strong and Eileen Heckart earned her crown as my favorite actress of 1956.  Recommended if the genre appeals in the least.

Trailer