Ikite iru Magoroku

...and writer-director Keisuke Kinoshita. The story follows two tracks that eventually converge. One storyline concerns a large field that was the site of a 16th century battle, and that has been left fallow due to a supposed curse on anyone who would till the soil. Many of the nearby villagers are becoming insistent that the landowners allow farming to commence to help the food supply for the war effort, but the superstitious are paralyzed by fear. The other storyline concerns the search by two soon-to-be-deployed soldiers for an authentic Magoroku katana, a sword of great age and quality.

I'm not familiar with Kinoshita's work. Depending on the source, this is listed as either his first or second feature. I know that he would go on to become one of the most popular directors in Japan over the next 20 years or so. I hope his films get better, because this one was a mess. The film's message is a slightly confused mix of honoring one's ancestors while also not being so beholden to them as to cause neurosis. There's a relatively large number of characters for such a short running time (just shy of 90 minutes), so several of them are underdeveloped, and their various little dramas do little to elicit viewer sympathy. The performances are largely perfunctory. I recognized a couple of them from other Shochiku films of the era, including Mitsuko Yoshikawa as a disapproving mother, and Takeshi Sakamoto as a put-upon servant. Top-billed Ken Uehara, who plays the film's patriotic center, isn't bad, if a bit of a cipher.