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is a 1999 Japanese
comedy drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
film directed by Kaneto Shindō starring Rentarō Mikuni and
Shinobu Otake is a Japanese actress. She has won three Japanese Academy Awards: the 2000 Best Actress award for '' Railroad Man'', and the 1979 awards for both Best Actress ('' The Incident'') and Best Supporting Actress (''Seishoku no ishibumi''). She also ...
. The film won the Golden St. George and the
FIPRESCI Prize The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...
at the
21st Moscow International Film Festival The 21st Moscow International Film Festival was held from 19 to 29 July 1999. The Golden St. George was awarded to the Japanese film ''Will to Live'' directed by Kaneto Shindo. Jury * Fernando Solanas (Argentina – President of the Jury) * F ...
.


Plot

Yasukichi visits Mount Kamuriki where, according to the
ubasute is a mythical practice of senicide in Japan, whereby an infirm or elderly relative was carried to a mountain, or some other remote, desolate place, and left there to die. Kunio Yanagita concluded that the ubasute folklore comes from India’s ...
legend, in the past old people were taken by their children and left to die. Later, he attends a bar run by a woman with whom he had an affair years ago after the death of his wife. He defecates in his clothes and is thrown out by the bar owner. Lying on the pavement, he is run over by a man on a bicycle, who turns out to be a doctor and takes him to the hospital. The doctor rings up Yasukichi's eldest daughter Tokuko, who lives with her father. She is first reluctant to take him home, arguing that she is suffering from bipolar disorder, but eventually gives in. Yasukichi has stolen a book from the hospital about the ubasute custom, and begins reading it to Tokuko. The book's story, about 70-year-old widow Okoma making preparations to be taken to Mount Kamuriki by her eldest son, is told in interspersed black-and-white sequences. Tokuko's sister, who appears rather detached from her father, comes for a visit to pick up unused furniture. Yasukichi is repeatedly hospitalised after defecating himself and passing out in his house and at the bar. During one of his stays, his son shows up to tell him that he is getting married, but that the father's presence at the ceremony is unneeded. Yasukichi eventually gives in to the doctor's advice and Tokuko's urging to be committed to a retirement home. Some time later, Tokuko, feeling alone and guilty for abandoning her father, shows up at the retirement home and carries him out on her back, like the young people who carried their elders up to Mount Kamuriki.


Cast

* Rentarō Mikuni as Yasukichi Yamamoto *
Shinobu Otake is a Japanese actress. She has won three Japanese Academy Awards: the 2000 Best Actress award for '' Railroad Man'', and the 1979 awards for both Best Actress ('' The Incident'') and Best Supporting Actress (''Seishoku no ishibumi''). She also ...
as Tokuko Yamamoto *
Akira Emoto is a Japanese actor. Career In 1999, he won the Japanese Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in '' Dr. Akagi''. He also won the award for best supporting actor at the 7th Hochi Film Award for '' Dotonbori River'' and '' Hearts and ...
as Kimitsuka, the doctor *
Naoko Otani is a Japanese actress. She made her screen debut in ''The Human Bullet'' while still a high school student, and became popular for her role in the NHK Asadora , colloquially known as , is a serialized, 15 minutes per episode, Japanese telev ...
as Bar owner *
Hideko Yoshida is a Japanese actress. She won the award for best supporting actress at the 14th Hochi Film Award for '' Shaso''. Filmography * '' Neo Tokyo'' (1989) * '' Shaso'' (1989) * ''The Pillow Book'' (1996) * ''Will to Live'' (1999) * ''By Player'' (200 ...
as Okoma * Masayuki Shionoya * Yoshiko Miyazaki * Masahiko Tsugawa *
Hideo Kanze was a Japanese actor and director, who specialized in the Noh form of musical drama. He was the second son of Kanze Tetsunojō VII, a descendant of Kan'ami and Zeami, who founded the Noh movement in the 14th century. Trained alongside his broth ...


Notes


References


Further reading

*


External links

* * 1999 films Japanese drama films Japanese comedy films Films directed by Kaneto Shindo 1990s Japanese films {{1990s-Japan-film-stub