Narayama bushiko (Ballad of Narayama) poster & wallpaper
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Sumiko Sakamoto, Ken Ogata, Seiji Kurasaki, Mitsuko Baisho, Nijiko Kiyokawa ... see more see more... , Kaoru Shimamori , Takejo Aki , Tonpei Hidari , Norihei Miki , Shoichi Ozawa , Taiji Tonoyama , Fujio Tsuneda , Keishi Takamine , Akio Yokoyama , Ryutaro Tatsumi , Junko Takada

In this second, award-winning interpretation of a novel by Shichiro Fukazawa, director Shohei Imamura has inserted some scenes of violence and ritual sex that are shocking and were absent in the first... read more read more..., 1958 film. The story is set in the 19th century in a remote and severely impoverished mountain village in northern Japan. In this fictional society, once the elderly have reached the age of 70 they are brought up Mount Nara, where ancient gods reside, and left to die hopefully blessed by the deities -- this sacrifice will free up food for someone else in the village. Orin (Sumiko Sakamoto) is a 69-year-old grandmother living with one of her sons and three grandchildren and she prepares for her departure for an entire year. Among other activities (not always morally acceptable), she gets a new wife for her oldest son, and then shows the wife where the best place is for catching fish and how to take care of the family. At the top of the mountain, hundreds of skeletons and hungry black crows wait for the next arrivals as the resigned grandmother and one grieving son make the final ascent together, the woman strapped to her son's back. Director Imamura has trenchantly probed the nature of inhumanity and survival in a small, everyman's village. Narayama Bushi Ko won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1983. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

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89% liked it

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100% liked it

11 critics

Unrated, 2 hr. 10 min.

Directed by: Shohei Imamura

Release Date: September 7, 1984

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DVD Release Date: June 10, 2008

Stats: 112 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (112)

  • fb100002359227440
    June 22, 2011
    fb100002359227440
    Shohei Imamura present a great tale, the struggle of a mother to accomplish all the necessity of your family, before her death. With the perfect direction, and screenplay, The Ballad of Narayma, show too the sexual perform of her sons and the violent way of life that the communit... read morey live together. Narayma, bring too a strange dark humor, shocking scenes and the difficulty of a son to comply an cold tradition. Certainly, deserve win the Palme d'or in 1983. Fresh.
  • Saxia
    December 16, 2008
    Saxia
    This movie was a treat!!
    It has everything: humor, drama, great characters and a beautiful story.

    It's situated in a peasant village, where everybody has to struggle to keep the mouths of their families fed. The people are submitted to strict rules to make sure that everything d... read moreoesn't spin out of control. One of the rules is that when a person turns 70, they have to be carried off to the mountain of Narayama by the eldest son where they are left to die.

    The story revolves around Orin, the 69 year old mother and her family, a colorful collection of characters that find their way into your heart effortlessly.
  • rubystevens
    December 5, 2008
    rubystevens
    the film recreates a remote mountain village in 19th century japan where famine is always lurking. it's a harsh world where infants are commonly discarded and at age 70, elders are carried to the mountaintop to die. the film follows one family in their various relationships and... read more day to day struggles for survival. it's a raw and beautiful evocation of life bound by tradition at the most basic level
  • gator681
    April 14, 2009
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]"The Ballad of Narayama" is an earthy and heavily symbolic movie with a hint of the supernatural about a peasant village, barely subsisting on whatever crops and animals they raise. One single misfortune for a family can affect the entire village. So tight ... read moreare things, there is an unwritten law that when a citizen reaches the age of 70 and supposedly cannot contribute anymore, they are carried on the back of their son to the mountain and left behind as a tribute to the mountain god.(How does this differ from how the elderly are treated today?) [/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]The focus in "The Ballad of Narayama" is on one representative family that demonstrates as equal as everything is for the people in the village, there is something of a pecking order. Tatsuhei's(Ken Ogata) wife just died(Though some do make it to a ripe old age, many others die young.) and Tama(Aki Takejo) has just arrived from a neighboring village to be his new wife just in time for the local festival. His brother Risuke(Tonpei Hidari) is a second son, a yakko forbidden from marrying. Even in this group, he is at the low end due to his offensive odor. Their mother Orin(Sumiko Sakamato) is 69 years old and in good health with all her teeth intact until she knocks out two on purpose. She is looking forward to her trip to the mountain to be reunited with her late husband and ending her life of hardship.[/font]

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Critic Reviews

Dave Kehr
February 8, 2010
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

Imamura's rough sexual humor is still in evidence, but now it has taken on a dark tone: to make love is to flirt with death. Full Review

Anton Bitel
October 31, 2011
Anton Bitel, Little White Lies

in this hermetic world... Imamura captures a truly universal, all-encompassing experience, showing the transmission of virtues and vices from one generation to the next in the service of life's tenaci... Full Review

Gabe Leibowitz
August 5, 2009
Gabe Leibowitz, Film and Felt

A good movie that could have been truly great Full Review

Tim Brayton
September 29, 2008
Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy

A masterpiece of the human condition...[but] below the very peak of Imamura's filmmaking powers. Full Review

Don Willmott
August 2, 2008
Don Willmott, Filmcritic.com

a remarkable comedy/drama that lives up to that overused adjective: haunting Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
June 24, 2008
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Grippingly told tale. Full Review

Zach Campbell
September 2, 2004
Zach Campbell, Slant Magazine

However you slice up postwar Japanese cinema, Shohei Imamura is one of its premiere figures. Full Review

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
July 23, 2003
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

Presents a wild, realistic and raw portrait of life in a small Japanese mountain village one hundred years ago Full Review

Jeremy Heilman
August 9, 2002
Jeremy Heilman, MovieMartyr.com

The Ballad of Naramaya is an indelible and transfixing poem of a movie that packs a substantial and complicated emotional punch. Full Review

July 22, 2008
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

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