Directed by Masaki Kobayashi
Written by Zenzô Matsuyama from a story by Kunio Kishida
1956/Japan
Shôchiku Eiga
First viewing/Hulu
Water is the driving force of all nature. — Leonardo da Vinci
This movie demonstrates that love triangles can be just as tedious in Japanese as they are in English. Pity.
I don’t have the character names in front of me. This botany student goes with his professor to study plants in the mountains. While there he witnesses the water war going on between some farmers who would like to improve their rice fields and a villa owner on whose property lies the only reservoir. The student decides he will search for an additional water source.
We spend almost all our time on a second story, however. The student falls for the villa owner’s beautiful secretary. The owner is also taken with her. The secretary can’t make up her mind. In the meantime, a waiflike girl who met the student one time in a garden two years ago can’t forget him. His friends try to make a match between the pair but the student is not interested. We fumble around inconclusively for the next one and a half hours.
Kobayashi is one of my favorite directors. He had a dud script on his hands. At no time did I care who the characters ended up with. Most of the time I was baffled by their actions. I kept waiting for the water feud and the corrupt businessmen who wanted to turn the villa into a hotel to come back into the picture. That could have made an interesting movie.
Agreed – love triangles are tedious in any language. I think the water feud would have made a much better primary story.
I hate love triangles especially when they seem just stuck in movies for “conflict” or because somebody thinks they appeal to women.
you were looking for a Japanese Jean de Florette it seems 😉
I’ll keep trying until I find one. I love Jean de Florette! The sequel, Manon des sources, has water plus the kind of love triangle I can get behind.
Must admit though I watched the first of the two sooo long ago I was so affected by it that I couldn’t bring myself to watch the second part.
Go for it! It’s hard to say which of the two films is better. They are both fantastic.