Gens de rizière

Poor people, trying to keep their heads above water, trying to hold on to what little they have, trying to get out of debt, people the prosperity of Japan in the 1950s has passed by. Yûko Mochizuki tries to earn enough to make it through the year, eking out her rice paddy by fishing for eel, even though the landowner will want it back when the crop is reaped. Shinjirô Ebara goes smelting with his friend, breaking the law for a larger catch. Occasionally.... twice in this two-hour movie, they raise their heads to look at the beauty around them. They don't have time for it. They're too busy trying to survive. It's the audience who gets to see the beauty, the wind on the rice paddies, the boats setting out.

Tadashi Imai's movie owes a lot to Italian neo-realism, even if it is in color. It centers on the hardships of the poor, but it doesn't condemn the rich. In the small village where it takes place, we don't see anyone rich, not the landlord who wants his tiny field back so his son can sow it, not the boat owner who rents the young men their trawler. they're all struggling to stay even, hoping that the field will produce enough rice for his son to live on, that the fisherman won't wreck his boat. For the poor people in this movie, there's nothing.

The style is equivalent to the kitchen sink dramas which came to prominence in the 1950s. No kitchen sinks here, but plenty of the gritty (or, more accurately, muddy) details of everyday life on rice farms and fishing boats, where the only labour-saving device is a cow to pull a rotary hoe - and the cow is only on hire. Much screen time is devoted to planting and harvesting the rice, and catching fish and eels on the lake. Punishing work, liked by no-one.

The first half of the movie meanders among an array of characters, never staying with any one person or group for long. Added to the leisurely pace, it means you'll need patience to get through to the second half, where the story settles mainly onto one family, who tend a small rice paddy and fish for eels.

A lot more happens in the second half. A boating mishap has consequences for the main characters. However, it is still far from action-packed. Even during the dramatic moments, the pace is gentle, even when events are not.

The direction and cinematography are pretty good. Some of the scenery, in rural Ibaragi prefecture, is pleasing to the eye. The acting is uniformly excellent and convincing, though perhaps overly sincere.

Overall, Rice appears to be a realistic portrait of poor rural life in Japan in the late 1950s. Reflecting real life, it's a bit on the dull side.