FDF Film Photo and Summary Index

Japanese cinema: All genres
Akasen chitai (1956)

Kenji Mizoguchi

In Yoshiwara, the red light district of Tokyo, five women work in a licensed brothel owned by Kurazô Taya. The oldest of the five is Yumeko, a widow who turned to prostitution to support her son, who is living with her in-laws in the country. The youngest is Mickey, who became a prostitute as an act of rebellion against her hypocritical bourgeois father. Between these two there are: Yasumi, who ruthlessly milks her clients so that she ascend the social ladder as fast she can; Yorie, a country girl who assiduously passes on her earnings to her poor parents; and Hanae, a housewife who is burdened with a sick husband and baby... [More...]

Late Spring (1949)

Yasujirô Ozu

Professor Somiya, a widower in his fifties, lives in the suburbs of Tokyo with his 27-year-old daughter Noriko. It is an arrangement that suits them both. Somiya has someone to look after him and Noriko enjoys more freedom than most women of her age. One day, the professor’s sister, Masa, persuades him that it is high time his daughter was married. In a few years, she will be past marrying age and will end up having an insecure and lonely future... [More...]

The Life of Oharu (1952)

Kenji Mizoguchi

In 17th Century Japan, a fifty-year-old prostitute named Oharu looks back on her life in sorrow. When she was a young woman, she brought disgrace on herself and her family by falling in love with a man from an inferior caste. After being sent into exile with her parents, she is bought as the concubine to Lord Matsudaira in the hope that she will bear him an heir. Once she has fulfilled this duty, she is sent back home, only to learn that her father has racked up huge debts on the expectation that she will become a lady of the court... [More...]

The Only Son (1936)

Yasujirô Ozu

Japan, 1923. Otsune is a poor widow who struggles to bring up her only son Ryosuke in the rural town of Shinshu. One day, Ryosuke’s teacher Ookubo visits Otsune and persuades her to allow her son to continue his studies after he leaves elementary school. Otsune knows that she will have to make many sacrifices to pay for her son’s education, but she agrees to do so on the understanding that her son will work hard to become a great man... [More...]

Rashomon (1950)

Akira Kurosawa

In 11th Century Japan, a woodcutter and a priest are sheltering from a torrential downpour in the ruins of the ancient Rashomon gate. A commoner appears and provokes the two men into telling him about a recent murder trial. A bandit named Tajomaru has been arrested for murdering a samurai man and raping his wife in a solitary grove. At the trial, three quite different accounts of the killing are presented, from the bandit, the wife and the dead man (through a medium)... [More...]

Sansho dayu (1954)

Kenji Mizoguchi

In 11th Century Japan, an aristocratic woman, Tamaki, and her two young children, Zushio and Anju, leave their home to look for their father. The latter has been living in exile for several years, after disgracing himself as Governor by defending the rights of the peasants. The family have not travelled far before they are captured by unscrupulous slave traders. Tamaki is sent to Sado island to work as a prostitute whilst her children are sold into slavery on a private estate managed by the cruel bailiff Sansho... [More...]

Seven Samurai (1954)

Akira Kurosawa

Japan in the sixteenth century is riven by civil wars which allow gangs of maraudiung bandits to tyrannise village communities across the country. The elders of one such village have grown tired of having their harvest stolen by bandits each year and decide to fight back. They agree to hire a number of samurai to protect them and defeat the bandits when they next attack their village. All they have to offer the samurai in return is food, and so finding such warriors to work for them will be a challenge... [More...]

Throne of Blood (1957)

Akira Kurosawa

Sent by the Lord Tzuzuki, two samurai warriors, Washizu and Miki, succeed in crushing a local uprising led by a treacherous warlord. On the return to their master’s castle, they lose their way in the forest and encounter a strange old woman who prophesies their future. Washizu shall succeed Tzuzuki, but his reign will be short and Miki’s son will be his successor. The two men laugh this off and return to Tzuzuki, who showers them with honours in reward for their valour... [More...]

Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

Richard Fleischer

1941. In an attempt to weaken Japan after its seizure of Indochina, the United States imposes an embargo that will deprive the country of essential raw materials. Japan reacts by signing a tripartite agreement with Germany and Italy whilst making preparations for a war with America. Having identified the American Pacific fleet stationed at Hawaii as an immediate threat, the Japanese plan an all-out attack, although some fear that this will lead to them fighting a war they cannot hope to win... [More...]

Ugetsu monogatari (1953)

Kenji Mizoguchi

In 16th Century Japan, Genjurô and Tôbei are peasant farmers who live on the shore of Lake Biwa with their wives, Miyagi and Ohama. The two men supplement their meagre income by making clay pots, which they sell at the market in the town of Nagahama. This being a time of war, the pots fetch a good price, and Genjurô returns to his wife triumphant with his earnings. Seeing that they have a lucrative sideline, the two men devote all their efforts into making more pots, ignoring Miyagi’s appeals to put family before wealth... [More...]

Yuki et Nina (2009)

Hippolyte Girardot

When Yuki, a 9-year-old Franco-Japanese girl, learns that her parents are about to separate, she realises that she must accompany her mother to Japan. This revelation is devastating. Not only will Yuki lose contact with her father but she will also have to leave behind Nina, her only true friend. Together, the two girls make a desperate attempt to prevent Yuki’s parents from separating. In the end, the only hope they have for staying together is to run away..... [More...]