23 October 2008
Trash and Treasure: Freda Freiberg on 'When a Woman Ascends the Stairs' (Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki)
Review
by Jason Di Rosso, Freda Freiberg
This week, Melbourne film historian, lecturer and critic Freida Freiberg on one of the classic films of the Japanese director Mikio Naruse.
Students at La Trobe University in Melbourne were fortunate for many years to have an expert on modernist Japanese cinema as a cinema lecturer. Indeed it's Freda Freiberg's commentary you will find should you seek out the British Film Institute's special DVD editions of films by Naruse.
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki) was one of Naruse's late films, made in 1960.
It's about a widow who manages a hostess bar in Tokyo, supporting her family and staying faithful to her husband's memory.
She is smiling and attentive to her customers, but facing some big life choices. Will she borrow money to buy her own business? Or forsake the memory of her husband to marry one of her admirers?
Director: Mikio Naruse
Cast: Hideko Takamine, Masayuki Mori, Reiko Dan, Tatsuya Nakadai, Daisuke Katô, Ganjiro Nakamura, Eitarô Ozawa, Keiko Awaji
Producer: Ryuzo Kikushima
Script: Ryuzo Kikushima
Cinematographer: Masao Tamai
Music: Toshirô Mayuzumi
Running time: 111
Australian distributor: BFI
Language: Japanese
Classification: PG
