is a 1934 Japanese

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

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-g ...

written and directed by

Yasujirō Shimazu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, and a pioneer of the ''shomin-geki'' (common people drama) genre at the Shōchiku studios in pre-World War II Japan. Biography Shimazu was born in Tokyo, the second son of merchant Otojirō Shimazu ...

. It is regarded as one of Shimazu's major films, and a representative work of the shōshimin-eiga ("lower middle class film") genre.

Plot

In a

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 37.468 ...

suburb, Keitarō, the older son of the Arai family, and Yae, the younger daughter of the Hattori family, are not only neighbours and schoolmates, but also have developed unspoken feelings for each other. When Yae's older sister Kyōko leaves her husband and returns home, she becomes a cause of concern for her parents and also for Yae, as Kyōko starts taking an interest in Keitarō. After Mr. Hattori is transferred to Korea by his employer, Yae's and Keitarō's separation seems inevitable, but the Hattoris decide to leave Yae as a boarder with the Arais to finish high school.

Cast

* Yukichi Iwata as Shōsaku Hattori * Chōko Iida as Hamako Hattori * Yoshiko Okada as Kyōko Hattori *

Yumeko Aizome is a Japanese former film and stage actress. She was active from 1930 until 1965 and appeared in more than 115 films. Early life Aizome was born as in Inawashiro, Fukushima. Aizome's father died when she was 6 months old, and her mother die ...

as Yaeko Hattori, called Yae *

Sanae Takasugi was a Japanese film and television actress. She starred in over 80 films, directed by notable filmmakers like Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse, and Keisuke Kinoshita. Career Born in Asakusa, Tokyo, Takasugi graduated at Rissho High Sc ...

as Etsuko Manabe * Ryōtarō Mizushima as Ikuzo Arai * Fumiko Katsuragi as Matsuko Arai * Den Obinata as Keitarō Arai * Akio Isono as Seiji Arai * Shōzaburō Abe as Glazier

Reception and legacy

Kinema Junpo , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

's list of the ten best Japanese films of 1934, ''Our Neighbor, Miss Yae'' ranked #2 behind

Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in t ...

's ''

A Story of Floating Weeds is a 1934 silent film directed by Yasujirō Ozu which he later remade as ''Floating Weeds'' in 1959 in color. It won the Kinema Junpo Award for best film. Plot The film starts with a travelling kabuki troupe arriving by train at a provincial se ...

''. In the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

's 2020 list of "The best Japanese film of every year – from 1925 to now", film historian Alexander Jacoby called the film a "subtle, charming, funny and bittersweet story of family life", which perfectly illustrates "its director's penchant for understated melodrama and his beguiling blend of humour and pathos". ''Our Neighbor, Miss Yae'' was shown at the

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from ...

in 2005.

Background

The

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

short which the protagonists are watching in the cinema is ''

Ha! Ha! Ha! ''Ha!-Ha!-Ha!'' is the second album by British pop group Ultravox, at that time known as "Ultravox!", with an exclamation mark, as a nod to Neu!. Although the group would later achieve fame and commercial success with lead singer Midge Ure th ...

'' by the

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of i ...

References

External links

* * * {{cite web, url=https://www.artforum.com/film/nick-pinkerton-on-japan-speaks-out-early-japanese-talkies-at-moma-52058 , title=Listen Up , last=Pinkerton , first=Nick , website=

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notabl ...

, date=9 May 2015 Japanese comedy films Japanese drama films Japanese black-and-white films 1934 films 1934 comedy films 1934 drama films 1930s Japanese films Films set in Tokyo