The Ballad of Narayama (1958)
1h 38min
·

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Themes:Family BondsComing Of AgeSacrificeDeath And MortalityAgingTradition Vs. IndividualityGenerational ConflictDiscover Similar ThemesMood:ReflectiveMelancholicSomberTragicBleakDiscover Similar Mood
In Kabuki style, the film tells the story of a remote mountain village where the scarcity of food leads to a voluntary but socially-enforced policy in which relatives carry 70-year-old family members up Narayama mountain to die. Granny Orin is approaching 70, content to embrace her fate. Her widowed son Tatsuhei cannot bear losing his mother, even as she arranges his marriage to a widow his age. Her grandson Kesa, who's girlfriend is pregnant, is selfishly happy to see Orin die. Around them, a family of thieves are dealt with severely, and an old man, past 70, whose son has cast him out, scrounges for food. Will Orin's loving and accepting spirit teach and ennoble her family?
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Emotional FarewellsAcceptance Of FateSacrifice For The Greater GoodIntergenerational RelationshipsCultural RitualsCultural TraditionsFamily ObligationsAging ParentJourney To The Sacred Mountain








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Crew
Directed by: Keisuke Kinoshita, Hiroshi Kusuda, Yoshikazu Ōtsuki
Written by: Keisuke Kinoshita
Produced by: Masaharu Kokaji, Ryuzo Otani
Composed by: Chūji Kinoshita, Matsunosuke Nozawa
Cast

Kinuyo Tanaka
Orin

Teiji Takahashi
Tatsuhei

Yūko Mochizuki
Tamayan

Yūnosuke Itō
Matayan's son

Danko Ichikawa
Kesakichi

Eijirō Tōno
Messenger

Kō Nishimura
One of the villagers who Teaches Narayama's Manners (uncredited)

Tokuji Kobayashi
One of the villagers who teaches Narayama's manners (uncredited)

Masao Oda
One of the villagers who teaches Narayama's manners (uncredited)
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