The Ballad of Narayama (1958)

Storybook sets and expressionistic colors in The Ballad of Narayama

Keisuke Kinoshita's The Ballad of Narayama tells the tale of an old woman who, following village tradition, must be taken by her son to the titular mountain to die. This dark tale, derived from the novelization of an old folk tale, is performed on a soundstage lending the film a storybook feel. Kinoshita imbues his film with expressionistic colors, often signaling the changing of seasons and time's passage. He also uses techniques from Kabuki theater, particularly an off-screen narrator who sings his lines. Kinoshita often ends scenes by shutting off the lighting on his characters in the foreground while changing the background sets before our eyes. These effects enliven what is a very lugubrious tale.

Part of the downbeat nature of the story is the scathing portrait of the inhabitants of the poor, rural village. Orin, the old woman doomed to take her fatal trip to Narayama, is portrayed as virtuous and caring as are her son and daughter-in-law, but most of the villagers are portrayed as avaricious and self-centered. When a mistreated old codger resorts to thievery to stay alive, the villagers take advantage of his misdeed by looting his family's supplies. It does not take much imagination to see that Kinoshita is addressing the collective guilt of Japan during the post-war period.

Kinuyo Tanaka is peerless as Orin, matching her superb performances for Mizoguchi. I won't soon forget the scene where she contemplates bashing out her teeth on a stone implement so she can be a toothless old lady ready to hasten her ultimate demise. ...Narayama often resembles a silent melodrama and Tanaka's performance gives the film a still center from which the pathos is wrung. I slightly prefer Imamura's 1983 remake, mostly because his realism makes the ending more shattering and his film has a better balance of humor and tragedy. However, this version is a memorable and moving film.