Late Chrysanthemums

Kin was a geisha. Now she lends money at interest, collects her debts and trusts nobody. Her former colleagues are also trying to survive: one is looking after her son, one wants to marry off her daughter, one is always looking for a loan. All of them come to Kin from time to time. Then a man she loved years ago turns up. Kin prepares, tidies the house, has her hair done and waits. He has come for another reason. Mikio Naruse directs. Haruko Sugimura plays Kin. The source is the stories of Fumiko Hayashi. Naruse is known for films about women who work and live alone, and he made several from Hayashi's writing; the pairing is one of the known matches in Japanese cinema. The subject is money. Friendship, love and family ties are all folded into relations of debt, and the film shows it without sentiment. Kin is not sympathetic; she is hard, calculating and without mercy. The narrative does not defend her and makes plain why she is as she is. The economic condition of postwar Japan is constantly behind: young people without work, the struggle to get by, and the disappearance of old professions. Naruse's manner is measured; little camera movement, plain framing, and feeling never underlined. Who it is for: viewers who like classic Japanese cinema and quiet character driven drama. Who it is not for: little happens, the pace is slow, and the narrative gives no character a way out.