Narayama bushiko (Ballad of Narayama) (1983)
Average Rating: 8.4/10
Reviews Counted: 11
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 0
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 1
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 0
liked it
Average Rating: 4.2/5
User Ratings: 1,843
My Rating
Movie Info
In this second, award-winning interpretation of a novel by Shichiro Fukazawa, director Shohei Imamura has inserted some scenes of violence and ritual sex that are shocking and were absent in the first, 1958 film. The story is set in the 19th century in a remote and severely impoverished mountain village in northern Japan. In this fictional society, once the elderly have reached the age of 70 they are brought up Mount Nara, where ancient gods reside, and left to die hopefully blessed by the
Sep 7, 1984 Limited
Jun 10, 2008
Cast
-
Sumiko Sakamoto
Orin Tatsuhei's mother -
Ken Ogata
Tatsuhei -
Seiji Kurasaki
Kesakichi older son -
Mitsuko Baisho
Young Widow Oei -
Nijiko Kiyokawa
Old widow Okane -
Kaoru Shimamori
Tomekichi Younger Son -
Takejo Aki
Tamayan Tatsuhei's wife -
Tonpei Hidari
Risuke Tatsuhei's Broth... -
Norihei Miki
Old salt dealer -
Shoichi Ozawa
Katsuzo -
Taiji Tonoyama
Teruyan -
Fujio Tsuneda
Jinsaku -
Keishi Takamine
Arayashiki -
Akio Yokoyama
Amaya -
Ryutaro Tatsumi
Matayan -
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All Critics (15) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (12) | Rotten (0) | DVD (2)
Imamura's rough sexual humor is still in evidence, but now it has taken on a dark tone: to make love is to flirt with death.
Top Criticin this hermetic world... Imamura captures a truly universal, all-encompassing experience, showing the transmission of virtues and vices from one generation to the next in the service of life's tenacious continuity.
A good movie that could have been truly great
A masterpiece of the human condition...[but] below the very peak of Imamura's filmmaking powers.
a remarkable comedy/drama that lives up to that overused adjective: haunting
Grippingly told tale.
However you slice up postwar Japanese cinema, Shohei Imamura is one of its premiere figures.
Presents a wild, realistic and raw portrait of life in a small Japanese mountain village one hundred years ago
The Ballad of Naramaya is an indelible and transfixing poem of a movie that packs a substantial and complicated emotional punch.
Audience Reviews for Narayama bushiko (Ballad of Narayama)
Super Reviewer
It has everything: humor, drama, great characters and a beautiful story.
It's situated in a peasant village, where everybody has to struggle to keep the mouths of their families fed. The people are submitted to strict rules to make sure that everything doesn't spin out of control. One of the rules is that when a person turns 70, they have to be carried off to the mountain of Narayama by the eldest son where they are left to die.
The story revolves around Orin, the 69 year old mother and her family, a colorful collection of characters that find their way into your heart effortlessly.
Super Reviewer
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Foreign Titles
- Die Ballade von Narayama (DE)
- Ballad of Narayama (Narayama bushiko) (UK)
