Harakara (1975)

Harakara: Directed by Yôji Yamada. With Chieko Baishô, Akira Terao, Atom Shimojô, Kiyoshi Atsumi. A quasi-docu-drama pertaining to the monumental process to bring a performance troupe to a small Japanese village to perform for one night.

“This appears to be a labor of love. Its about a village which is given the opportunity to put on a musical. They would have to pay the overhead and, being that they are farmers and always busy and not rich, question the wisdom and feasibility of such an idea. A spokesperson for the acting troupe Ms. Kono lays out the whole thing and they must decide. You get little slices of rural life in Japan far, at least in sentiment, from Tokyo. The best thing about this film is that it has heart. The acting is good, but it is really about the simple storyline of outing on a show. Films rarely get made with such simplistic plots these days. Enjoy this little slice of what city people call u0026quot;the simple lifeu0026quot;. I think youu0026#39;ll like it.”