Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme: A Japanese Tragedy

日本の悲劇 (Nihon no higeki) 

Having lost her husband in the war, Haruko (Yuko Mochizuki) struggles to bring up her ungrateful, materialistic son and daughter. Despite her countless sacrifices, including selling her land and even her body, her now grown-up children reject their mother, driving her to despair. 

Directed by Keisuke Kinoshita, considered to be one of the most important directors of the Golden Age of Japanese cinema in the 1950s, this film paints a bleak portrait of post-war Japan through the story of a mother’s self-sacrifice. Through masterfully interspersing his film with verité-styled flashbacks and newsreel footage, Kinoshita creates an insightful account of the personal toll of war and the slow, painful process of recovery.

A Japanese Tragedy, dir. Keisuke Kinoshita, Japan 1953, 116 mins, Japanese with English subtitles

Special ticket offer: four tickets for the price of three!

The ICA Cinema is now completely ad-free. Please note that there will be no trailers shown before this feature. This film is rated 15.