Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro
A popular male singer and female samisen player love each other, but pride and bickering keep them apart. The woman eventually marries a generous suitor, who tries to reunite the two as performers but fails. Mikio Naruse's 1938 drama is delicately lit and full of his trademark sensuous and supple compositions, and the superb concerts contrast beautifully with the arguments. In the finest scene, a meditation on the illusory nature of life's roles, children rip up a performance poster to make paper boats that they send floating down a stream. In Japanese with subtitles. 89 min.
By Fred Camper
Credits
Cast information not available at this time.
