The Ballad of Narayama

7.5 / 10

(76 votes)

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?

Country:

Japan

Genre:

Drama

Duration:

98 minutes

Year:

1958

Director:

Keisuke Kinoshita

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Company:

Shochiku

Cast:
Kinuyo Tanaka

Orin

Teiji Takahashi

Tatsuhei

Yūko Mochizuki

Tamayan

Seiji Miyaguchi

Matayan

Yūnosuke Itō

Matayan's son

Crew:
Keisuke Kinoshita

Director

Keisuke Kinoshita

Writer

Ryuzo Otani

Producer

Masaharu Kokaji

Producer

Hiroshi Kusuda

Director of Photography