La source thermale d'Akitsu

Yoshishige Yoshida's most celebrated movies tend to be his super dense and hard-to-approach ones, with Akitsu Hot Springs - for at least some of its runtime - making the case that Yoshida was genuinely just as well-suited to making more conventional films.

This starts off strong, and I'd say at least the first hour or so is very good, taking place after the Second World War and revolving around a dramatic romance/affair between two people, and the consequences that come about from it.

But it lost me a little during its second hour, kind of drifting around and repeating itself a bit too much... and not really in the sort of artistic way Yoshida did in full art-house mode; it just feels a bit like the people behind this got lost at a point, and sort of just shuffled along toward an ending of some sort.

It's half a good movie followed by half a pretty meandering movie. Perhaps a little disappointing as a whole, but I was on board with it for a while at least before I kind of felt worn out by the whole thing.

Featuring one of Japan's finest actresses, Mariko Okada, "Akitsu Onsen" is one of the most essential Japanese films of the 1960's.

Joining post-war background, devotion, loneliness and passion, Yoshishige Yoshida creates a remarkably beautiful and lyric film - relying only on the two main characters relations.

Okada, who had already worked with one of the greatest Film Directors in History, Yajusiro Ozu, handles the part with exceptionable beauty and charm.

While Hiroyuki Nagato's performance solid, it has not enough depth for us to take real interest in him - it serves only as a background for Mariko Okada to shine and show her incredible charm, innocence and acting skills.

As most Asian Directors, Yoshida has a sharp eye for framing, and this comes across in every second. Every shot and plane is perfectly balanced, giving the film a beautiful look. Seldom have I seen better framing in a Film. The Japanese once again demonstrate their extreme talent with Film composition and aesthetics. Contrary to what many think, Kurosawa is not the only Japanese director with such talent.

In the end, Mariko Okada and Yoshishige Yoshida (wife and husband) are one of the most defining Director-Actress couples in Film History (along with Yimou Zhang/Gong Li and Ingmar Bergman/Liv Ullman).

I had the honor to meet both Yoshida and Okada at the 27th São Paulo International Film Festival in 2003, and they proved two be two exceptionally humble and pleasant people.

I demand a Criterion Collection DVD right now. Not only of "Akitsu Onsen" but of all Yoshida and Okada films.

Don't miss this one.

Seeing this was one of the factors that led to my moving to Japan. I think that this film best captured the intense mood symbolizing the changes of modernization overcoming Japan in the postwar era. I look forward to seeing it once more, but ironically, it is next to impossible to find in Japan. If anyone is aware of how to get a copy of this film over the internet (legally of course) or in a retail store, i would welcome any news. This is my first post concerning what I believe to be an all time classic. I have met few people who have read the book and even fewer who have seen the movie in Japan. Still I think that many others have seen this film internationally. I last saw this film in the mid 1980's. It has been a long wait.

This film moves at a painfully slow pace, with the same, monotonous theme music playing over and over in the background until you want to scream. There is no real chemistry between the actors who are supposed to be deeply in love. She chases after him, clings to him, pines for him, he goes, he returns, he goes, returns, and on and on and on. Finally, you just want the movie to be over. By the end, I felt that I had just wasted two hours of my life.

"Akitsu onsen" is one of the real and the best masterpiece in the history of Japanese cinema. It is not a lie. This is a little story on love affairs of a couple, and on an end of the love, and, on an endless love between 17 years until the death of a woman. We movie fan must see this film. There are not only Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu in Japan. The director, Yoshishige Yoshida, explained in this sweet and bitter melodrama that all the trials for the democracy in Japan after the World War II had not succeeded at all.

Yoshida was one of the great directors in Japan, but until now, he would never make the films like as "Akitsu onsen". His work became more radical year by year after he departed from Shochiku Ofuna Studio.