Nagareru (1956)

Nagareru: Directed by Mikio Naruse. With Kinuyo Tanaka, Isuzu Yamada, Hideko Takamine, Mariko Okada. Otsuta is running the geisha house Tsuta in Tokyo. Her business is heavily in debt. Her daughter Katsuyo doesn’t see any future in her mothers trade in the late days of Geisha. But Otsuta will not give up. This film portraits the day time life of geisha when not entertaining customers.

“Isuzu Yamada is the owner of one of the most respected geisha houses in Tokyo. However, business isnu0026#39;t good. She borrowed 300,000 yen from her sister for her lover, who has since left her. He daughter, Hideko Takamine, has no interest in being a geisha or marrying. Seiji Miyaguchi, the foul-mouthed uncle of a former employee, is demanding money.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMikio Naruseu0026#39;s movie, derived from Aya Kôdau0026#39;s novel, is an excellent, if typical work from the director. Ozu might direct movies about how families stay together in a changing Japan. Naruse more often worked in the tragedy of those who go under. Over the course of two hours, we watch as these characters slowly reveal themselves to us, not by the artfully and obviously-placed camera, seated unmoving at floor level, but through the eyes of newly-hired maid-of-all-work Kinuyo Tanaka. Naruseu0026#39;s style in unremarkable for its moment in cinema history, working near the top end of technical expertise. People donu0026#39;t act, they behave, and we tell what they are thinking by observing the rifts between these great actressesu0026#39; behavior in one scene and the next.”