is a 1934 Japanese

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic 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. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by

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

. 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, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

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 as Yaeko Hattori, called Yae * Sanae Takasugi 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 filmmaker. 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 the 1930s. The most pr ...

's ''

A Story of Floating Weeds is a 1934 silent film directed by Yasujirō Ozu; the film was later remade as the sound film '' Floating Weeds,'' in color in 1959. ''A Story of Floating Weeds'' won the Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film of the Year in 1934. Plot The film starts ...

''. In the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking 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 film archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director ...

in 2005.

Background

The

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

short which the protagonists are watching in the cinema is '' Ha! Ha! Ha!'' by the

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () was 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 in 1942, the parent company and the distri ...

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 × 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...

, 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 Films directed by Yasujiro Shimazu