Yearning

Reiko, widowed in the war, has run her dead husband's family shop for eighteen years. As supermarkets arrive in the town the shop cannot survive. The family wants to close it and open a new store, and the widow is expected to leave. At the same time her husband's younger brother declares his feelings for her. Mikio Naruse directed. Hideko Takamine plays Reiko, Yuzo Kayama her brother-in-law Koji. It is a late work in the long partnership between Naruse and Takamine, who played women in similar positions in his films many times. The subject runs on two layers: a woman's undefined place inside a family, and the disappearance of the small trader in sixties Japan. Both move through the same story. The final section boards a train and the tone changes entirely; the ending is among the most discussed in Japanese cinema. The telling is calm, the camera low and uninterfering. Who it is for: viewers who like Japanese family drama and Naruse. Who it is not for: anyone hoping for a hopeful ending; the film leaves no way out.