©When a Woman Ascends the Stairs © 1960 Toho Co., Ltd.
Japan Society and Metrograph will co-present Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us, a 30-film retrospective devoted to Naruse, the “fourth great” master of Japanese cinema, from May 9 through June 29. Co-organized with The Japan Foundation, New York, the two-part series will offer the first major New York survey of this signal studio-era filmmaker’s work in 20 years, presented in commemoration of the 120th anniversary of his birth and entirely on rare prints imported from collections and archives in Japan. Notable series highlights include all six of Naruse’s adaptations of celebrated feminist author Fumiko Hayashi’s work (Floating Clouds, Repast, Lightning, Wife, Late Chrysanthemums, A Wanderer’s Notebook), as well as some of Naruse’s rarest films, including the New York premieres of three pre-war gems not presented in previous retrospectives: Morning’s Tree-Lined Street, A Woman’s Sorrows, and Sincerity.
With an oeuvre spanning nearly four decades and comprising 89 films—of which 68 survive—the prodigious Naruse (b. 1905 – d. 1969) began his career at leading Japanese studio Shochiku, but, frustrated by opportunities denied him in favor of the company’s star director Yasujiro Ozu, quit to join the newly formed P.C.L., today famously known as Toho and popularized in the West by Naruse’s one-time assistant Akira Kurosawa, who wrote of his elder: “Mikio Naruse’s style is like a great river with a calm surface, and a raging current in its depths.” A contemporary of both Kenji Mizoguchi and his friend Ozu, Naruse won the admiration of peers and critics alike through his stylistically understated and unflinchingly observed melodramas, particularly those that confronted the experience and social status of women in modern Japan within the shoshimin eiga genre (films of the lower middle class).
Beginning with his early sound masterpiece Wife! Be Like a Rose! (1935), Naruse maintained a reputation among actresses as a revered and coveted women’s director, who guided many of the era’s iconic thespians to some of their greatest performances from since dimmed pre-war stars like Sachiko Chiba (the aforementioned Rose and Naruse’s one-time wife), Takako Irie (A Woman’s Sorrows), and Isuzu Yamada (Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro) to post-war divas like Ozu and Mizoguchi associates Setsuko Hara (Repast, Sound of the Mountain) and Kinuyo Tanaka (Mother), Haruko Sugimura (Late Chrysanthemums), Yoko Tsukasa (Scattered Clouds), and above all Hideko Takamine (pictured above) with whom he collaborated 17 times, most notably on four of his Golden Age masterpieces Lightning, Floating Clouds, Flowing and When a Woman Ascends the Stairs.
Although so highly esteemed, the notoriously taciturn director would often frustrate his colleagues by his reticence to explain his directorial intentions. Said Tatsuya Nakadai, “He was the most difficult director I ever worked for. He never said a word. A real nihilist.” His saturnine and introverted demeanor nonetheless undergirded a quietly egalitarian and progressive sensibility, forbidding his assistants to call him “teacher” and supporting Tanaka (The Eternal Breasts), who apprenticed with him for two months, as she sought to direct her own films. A privately angry artist, who had struggled to lift his family out of poverty, Naruse left behind a stoic, uncompromising body of work that has continued to resonate with filmmakers from Hou Hsiao-hsien to Ryusuke Hamaguchi, and stands as one of the essential corpora of modern cinema. Its themes of personal dreams blunted and gradually ground down by economic struggle, social inequality, and the failure of traditional norms only seem more relevant as the post-war liberal consensus barrels toward collapse. “From the earliest age I have thought that the world we live in betrays us,” the director said, “this thought remains with me.”
Opening on May 9th with Naruse’s undisputed masterpiece Floating Clouds, Japan Society will present the second John and Miyoko Davey Classic Film Series Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us – Part I through Sunday, May 31st, which culminates with his devastating late work Yearning (1964). In addition, Naruse scholar Catherine Russell, author of The Cinema of Naruse Mikio: Women and Japanese Modernity will present a lecture at Japan Society on the 31st. Part II opens at Metrograph on Thursday, June 5th with Naruse’s best known film When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960) and closes on Sunday, June 29 with his swan song Scattered Clouds (1967).
Tickets for Part I at Japan Society are on sale on now at
https://japansociety.org/film/mikio-naruse-the-world-betrays-us/
Tickets for Part II at Metrograph go on sale on Wednesday, April 30 at
https://metrograph.com/category/mikio-naruse/
Screening links and HQ stills available upon request | Image Highlights for Naruse retrospective
Film Line-up:
Japan Society:
Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts『乙女ごころ三人姉妹』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1935, 75 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Wife! Be Like a Rose!『妻よ薔薇のやうに』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1935, 74 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
A Woman’s Sorrows『女人哀愁』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1937, 74 min., 35mm courtesy the National Film Archive of Japan, in Japanese with live English subtitles.
Sincerity『まごころ』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1939, 67 min., 35mm courtesy the National Film Archive of Japan, in Japanese with live English subtitles.
Hideko the Bus Conductress『秀子の車掌さん』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1941, 54 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Ginza Cosmetics『銀座化粧』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1951, 87 min., 16mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Lightning『稲妻』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1952, 87 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Husband and Wife『夫婦』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1953, 87 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Wife『妻』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1953, 96 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Floating Clouds『浮雲』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1955, 123 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
A Wife’s Heart『妻の心』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1956, 98 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Untamed『あらくれ』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1957, 121 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
The Approach of Autumn『秋立ちぬ』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1960, 79 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
A Wanderer’s Notebook『放浪記』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1962, 123 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Yearning『乱れる』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1964, 98 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Metrograph:
Morning’s Tree-Lined Street『朝の並木路』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1936, 60 min., 35mm courtesy the National Film Archive of Japan, in Japanese with live English subtitles.
Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro『鶴八鶴次郎』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1938, 89 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
The Whole Family Works『はたらく一家』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1939, 65 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Traveling Actors『旅役者』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1940, 71 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Repast『めし』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1951, 98 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Mother『おかあさん』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1952, 98 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Sound of the Mountain『山の音』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1954, 95 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Late Chrysanthemums『晩菊』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1954, 101 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Sudden Rain『驟雨』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1956, 90 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Flowing『流れる』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1956, 116 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Summer Clouds『鰯雲』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1958, 129 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs『女が階段を上る時』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1960, 111 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Daughters, Wives, and a Mother『娘・妻・母』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1960, 122 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
The Stranger Within a Woman『女の中にいる他人』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1966, 102 min., 35mm courtesy the National Film Archive of Japan, in Japanese with live English subtitles.
Scattered Clouds『乱れ雲』
Dir. Mikio Naruse, 1967, 108 min., 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles.
SCREENING SCHEDULE
Japan Society:
FRIDAY, MAY 9
7 PM Floating Clouds with Opening Night
Reception
SATURDAY, MAY 10
3:30 PM Sincerity
5:30 PM A Woman’s Sorrows
7:30 PM Wife! Be Like a Rose!
THURSDAY, MAY 22
7 PM Hideko the Bus Conductress
8:30 PM Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts
FRIDAY, MAY 23
6:30 PM Untamed
9:15 PM A Wanderer’s Notebook
THURSDAY, MAY 29
6:30 PM A Wife’s Heart
9 PM Wife
FRIDAY, MAY 30
7 PM Lightning
9:30 PM Husband and Wife
SATURDAY, MAY 31
2:30 PM Ginza Cosmetics
5:00 PM The Approach of Autumn
6:30 PM Naruse Mikio: The Auteur as Salaryman
– Talk by Naruse Scholar Catherine Russell
7:30 PM Yearning
Metrograph:
To be announced on Wednesday, April 30.
About Japan Society Film
Spurred on by the success of the 1970 Donald Richie-curated MoMA retrospective The Japanese Film: 1896-1969, Japan Society committed to making film one of its key programs in the early seventies—quickly becoming the premier venue for the exhibition of new Japanese cinema as well as career-spanning retrospectives on seminal directors and actors. In 1979, Japan Society established the Japan Film Center, formalizing film as a full-fledged, year-round program aimed at cultivating a deep appreciation and understanding of Japanese film culture among American audiences. Over the years, Japan Society Film has hosted numerous high-profile premieres and programs, presenting works by the era’s then-new giants such as Shohei Imamura, Seijun Suzuki, and Hiroshi Teshigahara upon their first release, and groundbreaking retrospectives on now canonical figures such as Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujiro Ozu. The historic department continues to critically evaluate the legacy of Japanese cinema by highlighting the works of underseen talents, organizing the first American retrospectives of Kinuyo Tanaka and Shinji Somai among others. Japan Society Film would also host visits from Akira Kurosawa, Toshiro Mifune, Hideko Takamine, and Nobuhiko Obayashi. In 2007, Japan Society Film launched JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film, the largest festival of its kind in North America.
About Metrograph
MISSION
Metrograph is the ultimate destination for movie lovers. A special curated world of cinema inspired by the great New York movie theaters of the 1920s and the Commissaries of the Hollywood Studio backlots, Metrograph is a community inhabited by movie professionals screening their work, taking meetings, watching films, collaborating together—an audience built around our shared love of cinema.
METROGRAPH
Metrograph is an entertainment company founded in 2016. Our projects to date include Metrograph NYC, our Manhattan movie theater at 7 Ludlow Street, which also houses our Bookstore and The Commissary restaurant and bar; Metrograph At Home, a streaming service that brings our signature curation to a national audience; Metrograph Editions, a producer and curator of books on cinema, limited edition prints, apparel, and beyond; the newly launched print publication, The Metrograph; and Metrograph Pictures, an independent distribution company started in 2019 centered around Metrograph’s signature curation. In 2024, the company ramped up its distribution operation with the acquisition of India Donaldson’s acclaimed Sundance breakout Good One (also selected for the 2024 Director’s Fortnight in Cannes).
Recent and upcoming releases include Academy Award-nominee Jérémy Clapin’s sci-fi mystery Meanwhile on Earth, which premiered in Berlinale Panorama 2024, Crystal Moselle and Derrick B. Harden’s warmhearted SXSW comedy The Black Sea, three films from the 2024 Cannes FIlm Festival: Un Certain Regard stand outs Santosh, a riveting police procedural directed by Sandhya Suri and The Kingdom, Julian Colonna’s incendiary Corsican mob thriller, along with Director’s Fortnight discovery, Gazer, directed by Ryan J. Sloan, Venice Special Jury Prize-winner April, directed by Dea Kulumbegasvhili, Neo Sora’s fall festival standout, Happyend, and Christian Petzold’s forthcoming film, Miroirs No. 3. Past films include restorations such as Possession (1981), A Bigger Splash (1973), Downtown 81 (1981/2001), and Hyenas (1992). In addition to restorations, Metrograph Pictures has re-released The French (1982), presented by Wes Anderson, and Claire Denis’ L’intrus (2004), and released the celebrated documentary Sisters With Transistors (2020). Metrograph’s SVOD platform, Metrograph At Home, launched in July 2020, and has been bringing Metrograph’s signature curation to a nationwide audience at metrograph.com.