The Sound Of The Mountain (Film)

After reading Yasunari Kawabata's impressive novel, I was curious to see how it would be interpreted by director Mikio Naruse in his version of The Sound Of The Mountain (1954). In particular, I was wondering how scandalous material like extra material affairs and abortions would be handled, and to my surprise they were included in the film version as well. It seems the film company and general public were more sophisticated than I gave them credit for being in the mid 50s in Japan. I thought it was be suited for Ozu, who also lived in Kamakura (where Kawabata lived and where the novel takes place). But Naruse makes it his own film in a fashion by adding a bleaker ending than in the book, but he mostly adheres to the story and essence of the book about an unhappy family. It stars So Yamaura as Shingo Ogata and Setsuko Hara as his beloved daughter-in-law playing a role similar to the one she had a year earlier in Ozu's Tokyo Story. Naruse's cinematic vision is realized in seamless editing, classically framed shots and choice uses of locations to provide his vision of Kawabata's excellent novel.