Older Brother, Younger Sister (あにいもうと, Ani imōto) is a 1953 Japanese drama film directed by Mikio Naruse. The film is based on the short story Ani imōto by Saisei Murō.[1][2]
| Older Brother, Younger Sister | |
|---|---|
 Japanese film poster | |
| Japanese name | |
| Kanji | あにいもうと |
| Directed by | Mikio Naruse |
| Written by |
|
| Produced by | Nobuo Miura |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Shigeyoshi Mine |
| Edited by | Toyo Suzuki |
| Music by | Ichirō Saitō |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Daiei Film |
Release date | |
Running time | 87 minutes[1][2] |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Plot edit
Mon, the elder daughter of a rural family, returns home from Tokyo pregnant after an affair with college student Kobata. Her parents fear a scandal that might threaten the marriage prospects of the younger sister San. Also, Mon, as the film suggests, supports San's education by prostitution, as the father's business had to close down and the mother hardly manages to finance the family by running a small store. The ill-tempered eldest brother Inokichi decides to take on the role of a disciplinarian, first beating up Kobata when he visits the family to apologise, and later Mon. Still, Mon forgives him and returns to the capital.
Cast edit
- Machiko Kyō as Mon
- Masayuki Mori as Inokichi
- Yoshiko Kuga as San
- Eiji Funakoshi as Kobata
- Kumeko Urabe as Riki, the mother
- Reizaburō Yamamoto as Akaza, the father
Reception edit
Six years after the film's premiere, film historian Donald Richie objected that by "attempting to move from realism to naturalism, Naruse is occasionally at fault in manipulating his characters a bit too obviously".[3] In 2008, film scholar Alexander Jacoby called Older Brother, Younger Sister an "uncharacteristically brutal film in which the emotional tensions […] explode into physical violence".[4] Keith Uhlich of Slant Magazine gave the film 3.5 of 4 stars for showing Naruse's "considerable skill at portraying household dynamics".[5]
Literary source edit
First published in 1934, Saisei Murō's short story Ani imōto had won the Bungei Konwakai Award. It had been adapted for the screen the first time in 1936 by Sotoji Kimura[6] and again in 1976 by Tadashi Imai. The story has been translated into English by Edward Seidensticker and is available in the anthology Modern Japanese Stories.
Legacy edit
Older Brother, Younger Sister was screened at the Museum of Modern Art in 1985[7] as part of its retrospective on Mikio Naruse, and at the Cinémathèque Française in 2016 and 2017.[8]
References edit
- ^ a b c "あにいもうと (Older Brother, Younger Sister)". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 21 January 2021.
- ^ a b c "あにいもうと (Older Brother, Younger Sister)". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved 14 July 2021.
- ^ Anderson, Joseph L.; Richie, Donald (1959). The Japanese Film – Art & Industry. Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company. pp. 195–196.
- ^ Jacoby, Alexander (2008). Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. p. 209. ISBN 978-1-933330-53-2.
- ^ Uhlich, Keith (6 November 2005). "Older Brother, Younger Sister review". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
- ^ Fujiki, Hideaki; Phillips, Alastair, eds. (2020). Japanese Cinema: Texts and Contexts. London and New York: The British Film Institute/Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-8445-7679-1.
- ^ "Mikio Naruse: A Master of the Japanese Cinema Opens at MoMA September 23" (PDF). Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ "Frère et sœur". Cinémathèque Française (in French). Retrieved 20 July 2023.
External links edit
- Older Brother, Younger Sister at IMDb
- "Older Brother, Younger Sister". A Mikio Naruse Companion. 5 April 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
