is a 1952 Japanese

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Mikio Naruse was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967. Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook. He made primarily shomin-geki ("common people drama") films with female protagonists, ...

. It is based on the 1936 novel by Fumiko Hayashi and was the second in a series of adaptations of Hayashi's work by Naruse after the 1951 '' Repast''.

Plot

23-year-old Kiyoko works as a tour guide in

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

. Like her single mother and her three older siblings, all from different fathers, she lives in the city's Shitamachi area. From her siblings, Kiyoko is closest to her sister Mitsuko, who runs a clothing store with her husband Rohei. Her brother Kasuke is an unemployed war veteran, who wastes his time in

pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game, and much more frequently for gambling. Pachinko fills a niche in Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in the West as a form of low-stakes, low-st ...

arcades. Her oldest sister Nuiko has her husband Ryuzo invest in a hotel enterprise by baker Tsunakichi, who secretly is Nuiko's lover. Nuiko pushes Kiyoko to date Tsunakichi, and even slaps Kiyoko when she refuses to see him. When Rohei dies, his mistress Ritsu approaches Mitsuko and claims a share from Rohei's life insurance because he his the father of her new born child. Also Nuiko, Kasuke and the mother want to borrow money from Mitsuko for their own pursuits. Mitsuko eventually decides to use the money partly for Ritsu's demands and for opening up her own coffee shop. Kiyoko becomes frustrated with the tensions in her family and moves out into a flat of her own. She becomes acquainted with Shuzo and Tsubomi, a brother and sister her age living next door, and Kiyoko and Shuzo slowly develop an interest in each other. During a visit to Mitsuko's new café, Kiyoko is repelled to see that Tsunakichi is now involved in her sister's business as well and possibly her lover, and has to fight off his obtrusive advances. When her mother comes to look for the missing Mitsuko at Kiyoko's place, they have an argument about the many fathers Kiyoko grew up with and start crying, while a thunderstorm passes by. Afterwards, Kiyoko offers to buy her mother new summer clothes and walks her home.

Cast

Hideko Takamine was a Japanese actress who began as a child actress and maintained her fame in a career that spanned 50 years. She is particularly known for her collaborations with directors Mikio Naruse and Keisuke Kinoshita, with '' Twenty-Four Eyes'' (195 ...

as Kiyoko *

Mitsuko Miura was a Japanese actress active from 1938 to 1964. She appeared in over 150 films under the direction of filmmakers like Mikio Naruse, Kenji Mizoguchi and Hiroshi Shimizu. Biography After graduating from Otsuma Girls' High School, Tokyo, Mitsuko ...

as Mitsuko * Chieko Murata as Nuiko * Chieko Nakakita as Ritsu * Kenzaburo Uemura as Ryuzo *

Kyōko Kagawa is a Japanese actress. During her 70 years spanning career, she has worked with directors like Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujirō Ozu and Mikio Naruse, appearing in films such as '' Tokyo Story'', ''Sansho the Bailiff'', ''The Bad Sleep ...

as Tsubomi *

Jun Negami (September 20, 1923, Tokyo, Japan - October 24, 2005, Shinjuku, Tokyo) was a Japanese actor, and the grandson of Rudolf Dittrich, an Austrian musician. He appeared in 128 films. Filmography Film * ''Pen itsuwarazu, bôryoku no machi'' (19 ...

as Shuzo * Sakae Ozawa as Tsunakichi * Maruyama Osa as Kasuke *

Kumeko Urabe Kumeko Urabe ( ja, link=no, 浦辺粂子) (October 5, 1902 – October 26, 1989) was a Japanese movie actress, and one of the first in the country. Born Kimura Kume, she also adopted the stage names Kumeko Ichijo, Toyama Midori, Chidori Sh ...

as mother

Awards and legacy

''Lightning'' won the 1952 Blue Ribbon Award for Best Film, Best Director (Mikio Naruse) and Best Supporting Actress (Chieko Nakakita). It was also awarded the 1952

Mainichi Film Concours The are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan, since 1946. It is the first film festival in Japan. History The origins of the contest date back to 1935, ...

for the best film score by

Ichirō Saitō Saito Ichiro. (August 23, 1909 – November 16, 1979) was a Japanese film composer. Film score He made film music for 334 films including: * '' The Record of a Tenement Gentleman'' (長屋紳士録 Nagaya shinshiroku) (1947) * ''Mother'' (お� ...

and again for Best Supporting Actress (Chieko Nakakita). Film historian

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 ...

called ''Lightning'' an "almost perfect realization of Fumiko Hayashi's novel" and "a balanced union of literature and cinema".

References

External links

* * {{Blue Ribbon Award for Best Film 1952 films 1952 drama films Japanese drama films Japanese black-and-white films Films based on Japanese novels Films based on works by Fumiko Hayashi Films directed by Mikio Naruse Daiei Film films Films scored by Ichirō Saitō 1950s Japanese films