Summaries

A kabuki theatre-inflected story about a poor village whose people have to be carried to a nearby mountain to die once they get old.

In Kabuki style, the film tells the story of a remote mountain village where the scarcity of food leads to a voluntary but socially-enforced policy in which relatives carry 70-year-old family members up Narayama mountain to die. Granny Orin is approaching 70, content to embrace her fate. Her widowed son Tatsuhei cannot bear losing his mother, even as she arranges his marriage to a widow his age. Her grandson Kesa, who's girlfriend is pregnant, is selfishly happy to see Orin die. Around them, a family of thieves are dealt with severely, and an old man, past 70, whose son has cast him out, scrounges for food. Will Orin's loving and accepting spirit teach and ennoble her family?—<[email protected]>

Details

Keywords
  • mother son relationship
  • death
  • tradition
  • dying traditions
  • social convention
Genres
  • Drama
Release date May 31, 1958
Motion Picture Rating (MPA) Not Rated
Countries of origin Japan
Language Japanese
Filming locations Japan
Production companies Shochiku

Box office

Tech specs

Runtime 1h 38m
Color Color
Sound mix Mono
Aspect ratio 2.35 : 1

Synopsis

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