Mikio Naruse is one of the least known of Japan's early master directors, both in the West and in Japan, yet he created some of the most moving, darkly beautiful works in Japanese cinema. Like Kenji Mizoguchi, Naruse showed an uncanny understanding for the psychology of women. Like Yasujiro Ozu, he preferred subtle shifts of character over broad strokes of plot. Unlike either of these early greats, however, Naruse's vision of humanity was much darker and more clinical. He stripped all vestiges of hope or acceptance from his films, what remains is only a willful struggle to endure. His relentlessly negative view of human existence has resulted in Naruse's often being labeled a nihilist.
Born in Tokyo, in 1905, Naruse was the youngest of three sons of a desperately poor embroiderer. Although he excelled in elementary school, his family could not afford to further his education. He was instead enrolled in a two-year technical school. There, he spent virtually all of his free time reading borrowed books from the library. Soon after he graduated in 1920, his father died. At age 15, Naruse had no choice but to work. He found employment at the newly founded Shochiku company as a prop man. During this same time, Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujiro Ozu rose, within three years, from lowly apprentices to directors. Excessively modest and painfully shy, Naruse rose through the studio's ranks more slowly. After eight years as an assistant director to Heinosuke Gosho and Yoshinobu Ikeda, he got the chance to direct an uncharacteristic slapstick comedy called Chambara Fufu.
Naruse reached his creative peak in the early '50s, working primarily, like Ozu, in the genre of domestic drama or shomen-geki. His films are populated with proud, willful women who find themselves searching for dignity in desperate circumstances, only to find false promises and continuing degradation. Unlike typical Ozu heroines who are both trusting and innocent, Naruse's characters are stubborn, experienced, and self-aware. They are women who knowingly enter doomed relationships, as in Ukigumo; barmaids who struggle to support their children, as in Ginza Gensho; or aged geishas who try to resist a decline into prostitution, as in Nagareru. Yet they continue to struggle and endure in spite of their bleak prospects. While Ozu punctuates his films with long static shots that invoke a sense of transcendence, Naruse shoots his actors close-up in confined spaces. His claustrophobic aesthetic seems to deny the possibility, not just of transcendence, but even of communication or happiness. Such Naruse masterpieces as Meshi, Mother, Late Chrysanthemums, and Ukigumo rely on subtle changes of expression to create brilliantly nuanced studies of these remarkable and desperate women.
| Title | Year | Editors' Rating | User Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Scattered Clouds
Director |
1967 | |||
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The Thin Line
Director |
1967 | |||
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Moment of Terror
Director |
1966 | |||
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Onna No Naka Ni Iru Tanin
Director |
1966 | |||
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Yearning
Director, Producer |
1964 | |||
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A Woman's Life
Director |
1963 | |||
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Lonely Lane
Director |
1962 | |||
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The Wiser Age
Director |
1962 | |||
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Tsuma Toshite Onna Toshite
Director |
1961 | |||
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Aki Tachinu
Director |
1960 | |||
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Musume Tsuma Haha
Director |
1960 | |||
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When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
Director |
1960 | |||
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Yoru No Nagare
Director |
1960 | |||
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Kotan No Kuchibue
Director |
1959 | |||
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Anzukko
Director |
1958 | |||
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Iwashigumo
Director |
1958 | |||
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Untamed Woman
Director |
1957 | |||
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Nagareru
Director |
1956 | |||
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Shu-U
Director |
1956 | |||
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Tsuma No Kokoro
Director |
1956 | |||
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Kuchizuke, Part 3: Onna Doshi
Director |
1955 | |||
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Ukigumo
Director |
1955 | |||
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Late Chrysanthemums
Director |
1954 | |||
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Yama No Oto
Director |
1954 | |||
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Ani Imoto
Director |
1953 | |||
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Fufu
Director |
1953 | |||
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Tsuma
Director |
1953 | |||
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Inazuma
Director |
1952 | |||
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Okasan
Director |
1952 | |||
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Okuni to Gohei
Director |
1952 | |||
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Ginza Gesho
Director |
1951 | |||
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Maihime
Director |
1951 | |||
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Meshi
Director |
1951 | |||
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Ikari No Machi
Director |
1950 | |||
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Ishinaka Sensei Gyojoki
Director |
1950 | |||
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Shiroi Yaju
Director |
1950 | |||
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Furyo Shojo
Director |
1949 | |||
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Haru No Mezame
Director |
1947 | |||
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Ore Mo Omae Mo
Director |
1946 | |||
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Sanjusangendo Toshiya Monogatari
Director |
1945 | |||
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Shori No Hi Made
Director |
1945 | |||
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Shibaido
Director |
1944 | |||
|
Tanoshiki Kana Jinsei
Director |
1944 | |||
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Uta Andon
Director |
1943 | |||
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Haha Wa Shinazu
Director |
1942 | |||
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Hideko No Shasho-San
Director |
1941 | |||
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Natsukashi No Kao
Director |
1941 | |||
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Tabi Yakusha
Director |
1940 | |||
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Hataraku Ikka
Director |
1939 | |||
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Magokoro
Director |
1939 | |||
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Tsuruhachi Tsurujiro
Director |
1938 | |||
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Kimiko
Director |
1937 | |||
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Nadare
Director |
1937 | |||
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Nyonin Aishu
Director |
1937 | |||
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Asa No Namikimichi
Director |
1936 | |||
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Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts
Director |
1935 | |||
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Wife! Be Like a Rose!
Director |
1935 | |||
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Street Without End
Director |
1934 | |||
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Apart from You
Director |
1933 | |||
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Boku No Marumage
Director |
1933 | |||
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Sobo
Director |
1933 | |||
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Yogoto No Yume
Director |
1933 | |||
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Eraku Nare
Director |
1932 | |||
|
Mushibameru Haru
Director |
1932 | |||
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Nasanu Naka
Director |
1932 | |||
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Flunky, Work Hard!
Director |
1931 | |||
|
Hige No Chikara
Director |
1931 | |||
|
Tonari No Yane No Shita
Director |
1931 | |||
|
Uwaki Wa Kisha Ni Notte
Director |
1931 | |||
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Ai Wa Chikara Da
Director |
1930 | |||
|
Chambara Fufu
Director |
1930 | |||
|
Fukeiki Jidai
Director |
1930 | |||
|
Junjo
Director |
1930 | |||
|
Oshikiri Shinkonki
Director |
1930 |