is a 1951 Japanese

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Keisuke Kinoshita was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Ronald Berganbr>"A satirical eye on Japan: Keisuke Kinoshita" ''The Guardian'', 5 January 1999. While lesser-known internationally than contemporaries such as Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi an ...

. It was Japan's first feature length

colour film Color photography is photography that uses media capable of capturing and reproducing colors. By contrast, black-and-white or gray- monochrome photography records only a single channel of luminance (brightness) and uses media capable only of ...

Plot

Due to the renovation of the

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

based venue where she works, Okin, stage name Lily Carmen, and her lovesick friend Maya pay her small rural hometown in Nagano a visit. Carmen's father, who never approved of her leaving the family, is highly critical of her return, but most villagers are curious for the big city star, including the school principal, who feels honoured for the presence of such an acclaimed artist. As it turns out, Carmen's "art" is a popular strip dance act, which she is about to perform in a show put up by local magnate Maruju. While some of the conservative inhabitants see morality at stake, others excuse Carmen's eccentric behaviour with the fact that "Okin is funny in the head since she was kicked by a cow as a child". After performing their show, Okin and the again lovesick Maya, who fell for young teacher Ogawa in the meantime, return to the big city. Maruju renounces his share of the show's profits, and Okin's father hands over the money to the principal who promises to use it to give everyone an artistic education.

Production and legacy

Filmed using

Fujicolor , trading as Fujifilm, or simply Fuji, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the realms of photography, optics, office and medical electronics, biotechnology, and chemicals. The offerings from t ...

, it was Japan's first domestic color film. However, as a precaution and due to printing costs, a

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

version was also filmed, thus requiring actors and actresses re-performing scenes. Due to the amount of time involved in producing a print, most theatres screened the black-and-white version. A digital restoration was carried out by IMAGICA with support from the Japan Foundation using an internegative color copy made by Shochiku from 1975. The restored film premiered at the 2012 Venice Film Festival. ''Carmen Comes Home'' was followed by a sequel, ''

Carmen's Pure Love ''Carmen's Pure Love'' ''Carmen Falls in Love'' or ''Carmen's Innocent Love'' ( ja, カルメン純情す, Karumen junjō su) is a 1952 Japanese satirical comedy film written and directed by Keisuke Kinoshita. It is a sequel to Kinoshita's 1951 ...

'' (1952), shot entirely in black-and-white, which film historian Alexander Jacoby called an "uneasy, somewhat misanthropic satire" in contrast to the "tender humour" of its predecessor.

Donald Richie Donald Richie (17 April 1924 – 19 February 2013) was an American-born author who wrote about the Japanese people, the culture of Japan, and especially Japanese cinema. Although he considered himself primarily a film historian, Richie also di ...

was of a different opinion: while he called ''Carmen Comes Home'' one "of the better comedies", he saw its successor as "the greatest atiremade in Japan".

Reception

The Japanese filmmaker

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

cited ''Carmen Comes Home'' as one of his 100 favorite films.

Cast

* Hideko Takamine as Kin (Okin) Aoyama alias Lily Carmen *

Shūji Sano was a Japanese actor active from 1936 to 1977. A popular star of the Shōchiku film studios, he is best known for his appearances in the films of Yasujirō Ozu, Keisuke Kinoshita, Heinosuke Gosho and Hiroshi Shimizu. Selected filmography * 193 ...

as the blind musician Haruo Taguchi *

Chishū Ryū was a Japanese actor who, in a career lasting 65 years, appeared in over 160 films and about 70 television productions. Early life Ryū was born in Tamamizu Village, Tamana County, a rural area of Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu, the most southe ...

as the school principal * Kuniko Igawa as Mitsuko, Haruo's wife *

Takeshi Sakamoto was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1926 to 1965. Selected filmography External links * 1899 births 1974 deaths Japanese male film actors Actors from Hyōgo Prefecture {{Japan-film-actor-stub ...

as Shoichi, Kin's father * Bontarō Miyake as Maruju, the magnate *

Keiji Sada is the stage name for a Japanese cinema actor active from the late-1940s to the early 1960s. His real name was Kanichi Nakai. He won the award for best actor at the 7th Blue Ribbon Awards for and . He was the father of the actor Kiichi Nakai an ...

as Mr. Ogawa, the school teacher *

Toshiko Kobayashi was a Japanese actress active from 1949 to 1980. She joined the Nichigeki Dancing Team in 1946. In 1949, she was discovered by film director Keisuke Kinoshita and gave her film debut in his comedy ''Broken Drum''. Under contract with the Shochik ...

as Maya Akemi *

Kōji Mitsui was a Japanese movie, TV, and stage actor. He appeared in more than 150 films from 1925 to 1975, including 29 of ''Kinema Junpo''’s annual Top-10 winners and three of its 10 best Japanese films of all time. In 2000 the magazine named him one ...

as Oka, Maruju's assistant *

Yūko Mochizuki was a Japanese film and theatre actress who already had long stage experience, first with light comedies, later with dramatic roles, before making her film debut. Mochizuki often appeared in the films of Keisuke Kinoshita, but also worked for pro ...

as Yuki Aoyama, Kin's sister (credited Mieko Mochizuki) * Yoshito Yamaji as village youth * Akio Isono as Ichiro Aoyama * Kiyoshi Koike as Naokichi Aoyama * Isao Shirosawa as Kiyoshi Taguchi

References

External links

* * * * * * {{Keisuke Kinoshita 1951 films 1951 comedy films Japanese comedy films Films directed by Keisuke Kinoshita Films with screenplays by Keisuke Kinoshita Shochiku films 1950s Japanese films