Whistling In Kotan (1959) is a rare color film from master director Mikio Naruse about an Ainu family living in Hokkaido. Shinobu Hashimoto (Rashomon) wrote the screen play adaption from a novel by Nobuo Nobuo. A boy and girl live with an alcoholic father (Naruse regular Masayuki Mori) and are taunted at school for being Ainu. It is a humanist portrayal of the discrimination but somewhat didactic in tone. It was difficult to watch the version I had since there were English subtitles over Cyrillic ones. Catherine Russell notes form her book The Cinema of Naruse Mikio: "It suggests how Naruse's affinity for women's social subordination could be adapted to other oppressed groups, and how he remained flexible and open to the winds of change."
Post a comment
Your Information
(Name and email address are required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)
Comments