This column features a weekly pick, usually from one of the independent cinemas, of a film that — because of age, color or length — might be in the viewer’s blind spot when he or she goes through the week’s cinema listings.
Don’t miss the closing film of the Japanese Film Festival this coming Thursday, Jan. 26, at 6:30.
The winner of the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival in 1983, The Ballad of Narayama, is director Shohei Imamura’s masterpiece. It is an adaptation of a work by writer Shichiro Fukuzawa and deals with ageing and society’s attitudes toward the elderly.
In a small village in rural Japan, the custom is for anyone who reaches the age of 70 to be expelled from the village by being taken to a mountain top and left to die of starvation. This particular film focuses on Orin, a woman who has turned 69; she is still very healthy, but realizes her time is running out and she has to start getting her affairs in order. In many very touching scenes, sensitively handled by Imamura, Orin helps the rest of her family and the villagers however she can, making their lives better even as they prepare to cut her off from society.
The film provides a lot of food for thought and is one of the unquestionable highlights of the festival.
The film is screened in Japanese, with English and Czech subtitles.
Tickets can be purchased at Kino Lucerna (Štěpánská 61, tram stop Václavské náměstí, metro Můstek) or via the festival website.
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