#377: NARUSE, Mikio: When A Woman Ascends The Stairs (1960)

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NARUSE, Mikio (Japan)
When A Woman Ascends The Stairs [1960]
Spine #377
DVD


When a Woman Ascends the Stairs might be Japanese filmmaker Mikio Naruse's finest hour — a delicate, devastating study of a woman, Keiko (played heartbreakingly by Hideko Takamine), who works as a bar hostess in Tokyo's very modern postwar Ginza district, entertaining businessmen after work. Sly, resourceful, but trapped, Keiko comes to embody the conflicts and struggles of a woman trying to establish her independence in a male-dominated society. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs shows the beloved master Naruse at his most socially exacting and profoundly emotional.

111 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
in Japanese
2:35:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2007
Director/Writers


Written by Ryûzô Kikushima.

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Forty-page booklet featuring essays by Phillip Lopate, Catherine Russell, Audie Bock and actor Takamine.

Commentary

By Japanese-film scholar Donald Richie, author of A Hundred Years of Japanese Film.

Video interview

With actor Nakadai.
Theatrical trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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