Misemono okoku

Takamine Hideko made this film while she was 13, towards the end of her days as a child star but well before her best work. In "Misemono okoku" Takamine and her family arrive to Tokyo from the countryside on a tourist bus. We see a bunch of sites, modern buildings and Japanese ones, while cozy American-styled music plays in the background. The family ends up in a fairground, where the wallet of the father gets stolen while he is about to buy a doll for the daughter. The rest of the film - which is a loose narrative to say the least - wonders around the fairground on a sunny day and shows us the multitude of things therein.

The film was directed by Matsui Minoru, who made a total of 18 films. I have seen none, so I am unable to make comparisons, but Matsui did begin his career as an assistant director for Shimizu and Naruse, both of whom have more ambition in their weaker entries than this film. "Misemono okoku" is harmless, there is nothing offensive about it, but it feels like we are killing time here. Anything can be thrown in to get the film to a full hour's duration: circus, kabuki plays, musical theatre, you name it. Besides Takamine, the film stars the popular chubby character actor Kishii Akira, with whom Takamine played siblings in the following year's "Niji tatsu oka", which was also not a masterpiece, but a much more interesting film to watch through.