"When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" has to be one of the all-time great art-house titles. Like "Celine and Julie Go Boating" or "My Dinner with Andre" the title promises a film in which nothing whatsoever happens and all but assures that nobody not already inclined to watch a movie called "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" will ever see it. That would be a shame, because like "Celine and Julie Go Boating" and (to a lesser extent) "My Dinner with Andre", Mikio Naruse´s 1960 film is a masterpiece.
Actually, quite a bit happens during the course of the film; I would even call it a shockingly violent film even though nobody gets shot or stabbed. Keiko (Hideko Takamine) is a Ginza bar madam who has earned respect in her small world because of her refinement and class. She never gets drunk and she doesn´t sleep around, which only makes the businessmen who frequent her bar desire her even more. The other Ginza girls respect her enough to call her "Mama" and it would seem that Keiko is in full control of her life.
Keiko cannot control time, however. As she approaches the ripe old age of 30, she must make some difficult decisions before her looks begin to fade. She can open her own bar and vault from "mama" to "boss lady" but this requires money, the kind of money that only the rich married man who comprise her legion of admirers have access to. The "easy" solution is to agree to become a kept woman and thus guarantee an ample flow of funds. This is the ultimate dream for most of the other Ginza hostesses, including her young and libidinous friend Junko (Reiko Dan), but Keiko is too proud and too stubborn to submit to her fate so easily.
This might lead you to think of "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" as a story of liberation, but instead Keiko finds one door after another slamming shut in her face. Naruse depicts a world of limited and ever dwindling choices. Keiko´s life is circumscribed by the rigid demands of the patriarchy and the cold reality of economics. She needs money; the men have all the money. Those are the simple rules Keiko must play by, but she fights them as gamely as she can. She even resists help from the bar manager (Tatsuya Nakadai, looking like he wandered in from one of Seijun Suzuki´s yakuza films) who carries a torch for "mama" but won´t admit it.
Through her travails Keiko wears a placid expression, but the film´s incessant return to the same locations (such as the titular stairs which lead up the Ginza bar) suggests a hysterical undercurrent roiling just below the serene surface. You can picture the shrieking cartoon harpy of Annette Bening´s character in "American Beauty" ready to burst forth at any moment. Keiko´s ultimate breakdown isn´t nearly as "Oscariffic" but it is just as complete and just as devastating. When a smiling Keiko returns to her old stomping grounds in the film´s final scene, she is an utterly defeated woman.
Mikio Naruse is a director whose name you either know well, or not at all. Many die-hard cineastes consider him one of the Japanese masters on par with Ozu, Kurosawa, and Mizoguchi. Most American viewers have never seen one of his films, due in part to the fact that he did not work in internationally marketable genres such as period melodramas or samurai films. Remember that it took plenty of time for Ozu´s domestic dramas to find an international audience. It has taken even longer for the "women´s films" of Naruse to spread abroad.
Naruse gets compared most often with Ozu, but the resemblance is only superficial. Naruse employs much more editing in his films, and also focuses more on the lower classes and modernist characters than the traditionalist Ozu. Both directors bring an understated sensibility to the material, allowing the drama to unfold with as little interference from other distracting elements (like color or elaborate sets) as possible. Naruse´s preference for economy made him a favorite of studio executives because he could always bring a picture in on time and under budget. Maybe that makes him a closer comparison to Clint Eastwood than to Ozu.
"When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" is not the fey art flick the title suggests, but a potent and sensitive drama that resonates long after the film ends. Keiko´s bloodless evisceration is so harrowing and violent, I can´t help but think of the similar fate suffered by Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) in Martin Scorsese´s "The Age of Innocence." Marty´s film is brilliant, one of his very best works, but Naruse´s masterpiece is even better.
Actually, quite a bit happens during the course of the film; I would even call it a shockingly violent film even though nobody gets shot or stabbed. Keiko (Hideko Takamine) is a Ginza bar madam who has earned respect in her small world because of her refinement and class. She never gets drunk and she doesn´t sleep around, which only makes the businessmen who frequent her bar desire her even more. The other Ginza girls respect her enough to call her "Mama" and it would seem that Keiko is in full control of her life.
Keiko cannot control time, however. As she approaches the ripe old age of 30, she must make some difficult decisions before her looks begin to fade. She can open her own bar and vault from "mama" to "boss lady" but this requires money, the kind of money that only the rich married man who comprise her legion of admirers have access to. The "easy" solution is to agree to become a kept woman and thus guarantee an ample flow of funds. This is the ultimate dream for most of the other Ginza hostesses, including her young and libidinous friend Junko (Reiko Dan), but Keiko is too proud and too stubborn to submit to her fate so easily.
This might lead you to think of "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" as a story of liberation, but instead Keiko finds one door after another slamming shut in her face. Naruse depicts a world of limited and ever dwindling choices. Keiko´s life is circumscribed by the rigid demands of the patriarchy and the cold reality of economics. She needs money; the men have all the money. Those are the simple rules Keiko must play by, but she fights them as gamely as she can. She even resists help from the bar manager (Tatsuya Nakadai, looking like he wandered in from one of Seijun Suzuki´s yakuza films) who carries a torch for "mama" but won´t admit it.
Through her travails Keiko wears a placid expression, but the film´s incessant return to the same locations (such as the titular stairs which lead up the Ginza bar) suggests a hysterical undercurrent roiling just below the serene surface. You can picture the shrieking cartoon harpy of Annette Bening´s character in "American Beauty" ready to burst forth at any moment. Keiko´s ultimate breakdown isn´t nearly as "Oscariffic" but it is just as complete and just as devastating. When a smiling Keiko returns to her old stomping grounds in the film´s final scene, she is an utterly defeated woman.
Mikio Naruse is a director whose name you either know well, or not at all. Many die-hard cineastes consider him one of the Japanese masters on par with Ozu, Kurosawa, and Mizoguchi. Most American viewers have never seen one of his films, due in part to the fact that he did not work in internationally marketable genres such as period melodramas or samurai films. Remember that it took plenty of time for Ozu´s domestic dramas to find an international audience. It has taken even longer for the "women´s films" of Naruse to spread abroad.
Naruse gets compared most often with Ozu, but the resemblance is only superficial. Naruse employs much more editing in his films, and also focuses more on the lower classes and modernist characters than the traditionalist Ozu. Both directors bring an understated sensibility to the material, allowing the drama to unfold with as little interference from other distracting elements (like color or elaborate sets) as possible. Naruse´s preference for economy made him a favorite of studio executives because he could always bring a picture in on time and under budget. Maybe that makes him a closer comparison to Clint Eastwood than to Ozu.
"When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" is not the fey art flick the title suggests, but a potent and sensitive drama that resonates long after the film ends. Keiko´s bloodless evisceration is so harrowing and violent, I can´t help but think of the similar fate suffered by Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) in Martin Scorsese´s "The Age of Innocence." Marty´s film is brilliant, one of his very best works, but Naruse´s masterpiece is even better.
"When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" has to be one of the all-time great art-house titles. Like "Celine and Julie Go Boating" or "My Dinner with Andre" the title promises a film in which nothing whatsoever happens and all but assures that nobody not already inclined to watch a movie called "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" will ever see it. That would be a shame, because like "Celine and Julie Go Boating" and (to a lesser extent) "My Dinner with Andre", Mikio Naruse´s 1960 film is a masterpiece.
Actually, quite a bit happens during the course of the film; I would even call it a shockingly violent film even though nobody gets shot or stabbed. Keiko (Hideko Takamine) is a Ginza bar madam who has earned respect in her small world because of her refinement and class. She never gets drunk and she doesn´t sleep around, which only makes the businessmen who frequent her bar desire her even more. The other Ginza girls respect her enough to call her "Mama" and it would seem that Keiko is in full control of her life.
Keiko cannot control time, however. As she approaches the ripe old age of 30, she must make some difficult decisions before her looks begin to fade. She can open her own bar and vault from "mama" to "boss lady" but this requires money, the kind of money that only the rich married man who comprise her legion of admirers have access to. The "easy" solution is to agree to become a kept woman and thus guarantee an ample flow of funds. This is the ultimate dream for most of the other Ginza hostesses, including her young and libidinous friend Junko (Reiko Dan), but Keiko is too proud and too stubborn to submit to her fate so easily.
This might lead you to think of "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" as a story of liberation, but instead Keiko finds one door after another slamming shut in her face. Naruse depicts a world of limited and ever dwindling choices. Keiko´s life is circumscribed by the rigid demands of the patriarchy and the cold reality of economics. She needs money; the men have all the money. Those are the simple rules Keiko must play by, but she fights them as gamely as she can. She even resists help from the bar manager (Tatsuya Nakadai, looking like he wandered in from one of Seijun Suzuki´s yakuza films) who carries a torch for "mama" but won´t admit it.
Through her travails Keiko wears a placid expression, but the film´s incessant return to the same locations (such as the titular stairs which lead up the Ginza bar) suggests a hysterical undercurrent roiling just below the serene surface. You can picture the shrieking cartoon harpy of Annette Bening´s character in "American Beauty" ready to burst forth at any moment. Keiko´s ultimate breakdown isn´t nearly as "Oscariffic" but it is just as complete and just as devastating. When a smiling Keiko returns to her old stomping grounds in the film´s final scene, she is an utterly defeated woman.
Mikio Naruse is a director whose name you either know well, or not at all. Many die-hard cineastes consider him one of the Japanese masters on par with Ozu, Kurosawa, and Mizoguchi. Most American viewers have never seen one of his films, due in part to the fact that he did not work in internationally marketable genres such as period melodramas or samurai films. Remember that it took plenty of time for Ozu´s domestic dramas to find an international audience. It has taken even longer for the "women´s films" of Naruse to spread abroad.
Naruse gets compared most often with Ozu, but the resemblance is only superficial. Naruse employs much more editing in his films, and also focuses more on the lower classes and modernist characters than the traditionalist Ozu. Both directors bring an understated sensibility to the material, allowing the drama to unfold with as little interference from other distracting elements (like color or elaborate sets) as possible. Naruse´s preference for economy made him a favorite of studio executives because he could always bring a picture in on time and under budget. Maybe that makes him a closer comparison to Clint Eastwood than to Ozu.
"When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" is not the fey art flick the title suggests, but a potent and sensitive drama that resonates long after the film ends. Keiko´s bloodless evisceration is so harrowing and violent, I can´t help but think of the similar fate suffered by Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) in Martin Scorsese´s "The Age of Innocence." Marty´s film is brilliant, one of his very best works, but Naruse´s masterpiece is even better.
Actually, quite a bit happens during the course of the film; I would even call it a shockingly violent film even though nobody gets shot or stabbed. Keiko (Hideko Takamine) is a Ginza bar madam who has earned respect in her small world because of her refinement and class. She never gets drunk and she doesn´t sleep around, which only makes the businessmen who frequent her bar desire her even more. The other Ginza girls respect her enough to call her "Mama" and it would seem that Keiko is in full control of her life.
Keiko cannot control time, however. As she approaches the ripe old age of 30, she must make some difficult decisions before her looks begin to fade. She can open her own bar and vault from "mama" to "boss lady" but this requires money, the kind of money that only the rich married man who comprise her legion of admirers have access to. The "easy" solution is to agree to become a kept woman and thus guarantee an ample flow of funds. This is the ultimate dream for most of the other Ginza hostesses, including her young and libidinous friend Junko (Reiko Dan), but Keiko is too proud and too stubborn to submit to her fate so easily.
This might lead you to think of "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" as a story of liberation, but instead Keiko finds one door after another slamming shut in her face. Naruse depicts a world of limited and ever dwindling choices. Keiko´s life is circumscribed by the rigid demands of the patriarchy and the cold reality of economics. She needs money; the men have all the money. Those are the simple rules Keiko must play by, but she fights them as gamely as she can. She even resists help from the bar manager (Tatsuya Nakadai, looking like he wandered in from one of Seijun Suzuki´s yakuza films) who carries a torch for "mama" but won´t admit it.
Through her travails Keiko wears a placid expression, but the film´s incessant return to the same locations (such as the titular stairs which lead up the Ginza bar) suggests a hysterical undercurrent roiling just below the serene surface. You can picture the shrieking cartoon harpy of Annette Bening´s character in "American Beauty" ready to burst forth at any moment. Keiko´s ultimate breakdown isn´t nearly as "Oscariffic" but it is just as complete and just as devastating. When a smiling Keiko returns to her old stomping grounds in the film´s final scene, she is an utterly defeated woman.
Mikio Naruse is a director whose name you either know well, or not at all. Many die-hard cineastes consider him one of the Japanese masters on par with Ozu, Kurosawa, and Mizoguchi. Most American viewers have never seen one of his films, due in part to the fact that he did not work in internationally marketable genres such as period melodramas or samurai films. Remember that it took plenty of time for Ozu´s domestic dramas to find an international audience. It has taken even longer for the "women´s films" of Naruse to spread abroad.
Naruse gets compared most often with Ozu, but the resemblance is only superficial. Naruse employs much more editing in his films, and also focuses more on the lower classes and modernist characters than the traditionalist Ozu. Both directors bring an understated sensibility to the material, allowing the drama to unfold with as little interference from other distracting elements (like color or elaborate sets) as possible. Naruse´s preference for economy made him a favorite of studio executives because he could always bring a picture in on time and under budget. Maybe that makes him a closer comparison to Clint Eastwood than to Ozu.
"When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" is not the fey art flick the title suggests, but a potent and sensitive drama that resonates long after the film ends. Keiko´s bloodless evisceration is so harrowing and violent, I can´t help but think of the similar fate suffered by Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) in Martin Scorsese´s "The Age of Innocence." Marty´s film is brilliant, one of his very best works, but Naruse´s masterpiece is even better.
No comments:
Post a Comment