Yama no oto

There are some foreign films so steeped in their culture that as an American who knows the world only through movies, I find myself thoroughly puzzles. Sound of the Mountain is one of those movies.

The story is simple enough. A man bonds with his daughter-in-law, and is upset by the way she's treated by his odious son.

But constantly through the movie I felt like I was just missing something. Someone makes a comment and then the woman turns her head in a way to suggest something significant has happened. The man spends time talking about when someone mispronounces a word and I can't figure out why that's interesting.

I can see there is a concept of proper behavior but I can't quite find its outlines. A lot is left unsaid and I'm not sure what is meant.

I just felt kind of lost.

It's not a problem I have with all Japanese movies. I love Kurosawa, after all.

I'm not giving this a star rating because I don't feel qualified to judge this movie. It is well filmed and looks very nice, the acting is quite good, and the final scene is lovely and touching, yet I did not, for the most part, enjoy it, and if I were to give a star rating based on my subjective experience I would give it a 6 at best.

This film tackles a subject that even today is controversial: Choice. Kikuko (the utterly amazing Setsuko Hara) is locked into a loveless marriage with her husband. They live with his parents, and it is particularly her father in law Shingo (Su Yamamura, who also is excellent) that she is closest to. Kikuko is a veritable maid, but mostly doesn't complain, while her husband is having an affair. You want Kikuko to confront him, but she doesn't. Then (this is where it gets controversial) Kikuko finds out she is pregnant, doesn't tell anyone and gets an abortion! Her reason is that its not the time to have a child, since her relationship is in flux. In the movie "Juno", Ellen Page brings the baby to term. The brilliance of this film is its unflinching subject and how its handled, with dignity, sadness and relief. If this film were released today, especially in the United States, you'd have so many interest groups up in arms about it. That its handled like this, with you deciding what to feel rather than having your feelings be dictated to you, makes this a masterpiece. In every review I've written in which she has been an actress I've praised Setsuko Hara. She is beautiful (especially when she smiles), but its really about the seemingly effortless way she portrays all types of women, strong, weak, resilient, unable to cope etc. She is one of the greatest actresses to have ever graced the screen and her portrayal is phenomenal as the under appreciated wife who makes a choice based on her circumstances. Director Mikio Naruse has always considered this one of his best films, and it is. Even if you're passionate about the "life" issue, see this film. I can't say enough about the acting of Ms. Hara in this film. The film is essential viewing.

I'm well aware that Mikio Naruse is one of those holy cows of film history. Criticising him is some kind of blasphemy.

And yet I'll gladly die painfully on this hill: Every single one of his movies is terrible out of principle.

I've you've seen one Naruse, you've seen them all because there is literally nothing to it. Every single story - this one included - is basically about a ridiculously noble, self-pitying, suffering woman in a world where virtually every man is a smug, condescending parody of a man.

Women always have the moral highground and the whole thing is nothing but a mawkish didactic-play with the depth of a sunday morning cartoon.

It's redundand to say anything about his laughable radical feminism and I want my review to finally get through.

Again, his movies are objectively bad, people just don't (want to) see it because we live in objectively bad times.

(1954) Sound of the Mountain/ Yama no oto (In Japanese with English subtitles) DRAMA

Adapted from the novel by Yasunari Kawabata, that plays like Yasujirô Ozu movie starring Setsuko Hara as an already married wife Kikuko Ogata married to a husband Shuichi Ogata (Ken Uehara) who cheats on her at the small token while living with her husbands parents. Kikuko(Haras) interventions with other characters is a backdrop to the relationship between her and her stepfather, Shingo Ogata (Sô Yamamura). AS I had pointed out, this is what Ozu does best and that he should not be the the only director to be making these drama movies when they're others. It is subtle and self-explanatory.

I admit it. I'm a sucker for this type of movie. Old black-and-white film, well-acted and scripted, whether Japanese or American, and I'm lost.

Even better, this one has some top-notch dialogue. The scene where the father confronts the brassy mistress of his son has dialogue worthy of more than one Hollywood greats.

This film is a terrific high-class soap opera which brutally examines fracturing personal relationships in one family in post-war Japan. The previous reviewer implies that this is not among this director's great work. All I can say is, if this is a middling effort, then I for one have much movie-viewing pleasure ahead.

Highly recommended.