So many of Naruse’s films end on a point of stasis, with the narrative conflicts unresolved, and Yearning might be the extreme example of this, where the long close-up on Reiko’s face, coming after her failure to catch up with the body of her would-be lover borne away from her down the alleys of a mountain village, reiterates her sense, stated in the middle of the film of having wasted her life.
Yearning starts off in low-key shomin-geki mode. Reiko is a war widow who has devoted her life to running her in-laws’ neighbourhood grocery store, whose existence is now threatened by the arrival of cutthroat supermarkets. But the film takes a sudden shift sideways with the declaration of love for her from her younger brother-in-law (a declaration that the traditionally-minded Reiko instinctively rejects)and never recovers, climaxing with the long, marvellous train journey north which ends in tragedy. Once again, a Naruse heroine (the incredible Hideko Takamine) is left to simply survive.
by Ian Johnston | Source: DVD-R
24 Dec 2006 1:15 PM | Submit Comment
