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It is difficult to make a story about a failing marriage humorous. Yet, director Mikio Naruse made this possible, balancing bleakness and humor in his comedy-drama “Sudden Rain.” The film adapts a play by Kunio Kishida, with a screenplay by Yoko Mizuki, who previously collaborated with Naruse on features such as “Sound of the Mountain” and “Floating Clouds.”

The Whole Family is screening at Metrograph as part of the Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us program

Within a house located in a Tokyo suburb lives an unhappy childless married couple. Fumiko, a burdened housewife, frequently spends her days at home, while her indifferent husband, Ryotaro, works as a salaryman and returns home primarily concerned about dinner while managing his stomach issues. Their marriage is marked by frequent arguments, often sparked by trivial annoyances. However, the couple’s quarrels eventually escalate into clear animosity. Several outsiders, including the wife’s niece...

It is rather a shock, if you are familiar with Mikio Naruse‘s cinema, to discover “Summer Clouds”. The movie stands out in his filmography – not simply because it is his first color and widescreen feature, but also because it leaves behind the urban environment typical of the director to instead tell a tale about peasant life in the countryside. In place of the quiet domestic dramas set in small Tokyo homes, we now get wide shots of fields, valleys and beaches. Stepping out of his comfort zone, Naruse also stumbles somewhat in telling a story that feels much more polished and academic than his usual fare.

Summer Clouds is screening at Metrograph as part of the Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us program

There is still much to appreciate in a movie that bears strong similarities to Naruse’s earlier works, particularly in how it concentrates on a family...

Isao Tashiro, a taciturn publishing executive in his forties, is having an early after-work beer when he is spotted by his neighbor and architect friend, Ryukichi Sugimoto. After they return to their regular dive bar, Sugimoto receives a call: his wife, Sayuri, has just been found dead in a friend’s apartment, not far from where the two had met earlier in Tokyo. Known for having several male friends – a situation Sugimoto seemingly accepted without concern – she appears to have been murdered by strangulation.

The Whole Family is screening at Metrograph as part of the Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us program

Here is how “The Stranger Within a Woman” opens after a meaningful tracking shot gradually closing in on a elusive Isao from behind. What immediately draws attention is the dated aesthetic: a moderately contrasted black and white within a square 1.31 ratio. Sounding a bit outdated? Undeniably. By 1966, Oshima...

“A Wife’s Heart” is situated within Naruse’s prolific period during the 1950s, a decade in which he produced several works focusing on the lives and struggles of women in post-war Japan. This movie, along with others like “Repast” (1951), “Wife” (1953), and “Floating Clouds” (1955), exemplifies Naruse’s thematic focus on the quiet resilience of women navigating societal and familial constraints. In the case of “A Wife’s Heart,” Naruse offers a pointed critique of the family structure, particularly its dysfunction during this transitional period in Japanese society.

A Wife’s Heart is screening at Metrograph as part of the Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us program

Kiyoko and Shinji Tomita are a married couple running a small shop in a side street of a provincial town. They live in the same house as Shinji’s elderly mother, Ko, a domineering woman who acts as the de facto head of the household.

The samurai special police force known as the Shinsengumi has been solidified as a significant part of Japanese history. The army of passionate warriors organized by the bakufu did everything in their power to try and protect the Tokugawa shogunate, as political conflict, bloodshed and war spread across Japan. Despite their controversial reputation, they remain popular in pop culture and entertainment. Various media would depict them, from anime to J-dramas to movies. One of the most popular feature films to adapt the true story of these violent warriors is Tadashi Sawashima’s “Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor.”

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Director Tadashi Sawashima is primarily known for directing yakuza features. Still, he was no stranger to period pieces, so he is a fitting filmmaker to tell the story of the controversial bakufu swordsmen. Writing the screenplay is Kenro Matsuura and producing the...

Filmmaker Kihachi Okamoto, throughout his career, made it abundantly clear he hated war. He experienced the horrors on the battlefield firsthand during World War II and forever was disgusted by the atrocities committed by the Empire of Japan. Okamoto’s war movies boast an anti-war mindset while blending tragedy with dark comedy. His early projects, such as “Desperado Outpost,” primarily showed the director’s sense of humor, with western inspired elements thrown into the mix. Over time, these projects became more grounded and progressively darker. “Fort Graveyard” tells the tragic story of musician youths forced into combat, and “Japan’s Longest Day” recounts the terrifying final hours before the country’s surrender during the Second World War. With his ambitious and brutal epic “Battle of Okinawa,” audiences are reminded war spares no one.

Even with the budgetary issues the Japanese film industry was plagued with at the time, Okamoto would not be stopped.

When an actor appears in many films of a particular director it becomes a sort of short-hand subject to define either’s work. Sometimes it feels as if one influenced the other, or vice versa, but these collaborations end up becoming a large portion of the public’s knowledge about their prowess. One of the most emblematic of those collaborations is the Akira Kurosawa-Toshiro Mifune combo, maybe only rivaled by John Ford and John Wayne—probably not a coincidence.

But what lies beyond the confines of those classic Kurosawas? The Film Forum retrospective, now underway through March 10 and co-presented by Japan Foundation, brings 33 films showcasing the wide acting range of Toshiro Mifune. While it does contain the now-classic collaborations, it gives an opportunity to look beyond. Below, five of the least-known films from their series.

Snow Trail (Senkichi Taniguchi), 1947)

Toshiro Mifune’s first film has him top-billed alongside Takashi Nimura,...

Within the world of sports, when observing athletes competing in a race or training their bodies for the occasion, no one would deny the closeness of concepts such as purity and clarity in these images. Even though the world around us may be mostly chaotic, a mirror at times of our lives, the idea of sports, their clear aims and requirements are often what attracts people to join a sports club or at least go to the gym. At the same time, these images of purity have opened the door for interpretations driven by questionable or controversial ideologies, if we think, for example, of the way director Leni Riefenstahl portrays athletes following a deeply fascist agenda. In a similar way, the idea of perfecting the body and the mind, preparing the body to reach a state of absolute purity can also be found in the writings of author Yukio Mishima,...

Confessions, Villain, 13 Assassins, and the other winners of the 2011 Japan Academy Prize have been announced. The 34th Annual Japan Academy Prize, “often called the Japan Academy Awards or the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Nippon Academy-sho Association for Excellence in Japanese Film. Award categories are similar to the Academy Awards.” The award ceremony was held on February 18, 2011 at the New Takanawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo. The full listing of the 2011 Japan Academy Prize winners is below.

Picture of the Year

Kokuhaku (Confessions)

Animation of the Year

Kari-gurashi no Arietti (The Borrowers)

Director of the Year

Tetsuya Nakashima, Kokuhaku (Confessions)

Screenplay of the Year

Tetsuya Nakashima, Kokuhaku (Confessions)

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Satoshi Tsumabuki, Akunin (Villain)

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Eri Fukatsu, Akunin (Villain)

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Akira Emoto,...