Takekurabe (1955 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Takekurabe
Takekurabe poster.jpg
Japanese movie poster
Directed byHeinosuke Gosho
Written by
Produced by
  • Tsūjin Fukushima
  • Sadao Sugihara
  • Ippei Hata
StarringKazuo Kubo
CinematographyJoji Ohara
Music byYasushi Akutagawa
Distributed byShintoho
Release date
  • August 28, 1955 (1955-08-28)
[1]
Running time
95 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Takekurabe (たけくらべ, Takekurabe) (English titles include: Growing Up, Adolescence, Growing Up Twice, and Child's Play) is a 1955 Japanese drama film directed by Heinosuke Gosho. It is based on Higuchi Ichiyō's 1895-1896 novella Takekurabe.[2]

Plot[]

In a downtown area of Meiji era Edo, in the Yoshiwara red light district, teenage boy Shinnyo, son of a buddhist priest, helplessly witnesses not only his sister Ohana being sold as a concubine by his money-loving father, but also the fate of Midori, a neighbourhood girl to whom he has an unspoken affection, who is destined to become a courtesan like her older sister Omaki.

Cast[]

Actor Role Notes
Hibari Misora Midori
Keiko Kishi Omaki
Mitsuko Yoshikawa Orin, Midori's mother
Zeko Nakamura Gosuke, Midori's father
Eijirō Yanagi owner of the Daikokuya
Takashi Kitahara Shinnyo
Setsuko Shinobu Shinnyo's mother
Takamaru Sasaki Shinnyo's father
Kurayoshi Nakamura Sangoro
Yūko Mochizuki Sangoro's mother
Takeshi Sakamoto Sangoro's father
Akira Hattori Chokichi
Kyū Sazanka Tatsugoro, Chokichi's father
Matsumoto Kōshirō Shōtarō credited Somegorō Ichikawa
Kikue Mouri Shōtarō's grandmother
Atsuko Ichinomiya messenger
Iida Chōko Baayaotoki
Isuzu Yamada Okichi
Hatae Kishi
Kyū Sakamoto uncredited

Production and legacy[]

Takekurabe was independently produced by Tsūjin Fukushima's company "New Art Productions", which resulted in budgetary constraints and compromises in the filming. It received mixed reviews during its initial run for being "overliterary" and the casting of pop star Hibari Misora.[3] Film scholar Donald Richie and Gosho biographer Arthur Nolletti later called Takekurabe an "outstanding example" (Nolletti)[3] of the Meiji-mono (Meiji period film) and "one of the finest due to its excellent sets" (by Kubo Kazuo), "its superb photography and the nearly perfect performances" (Richie).[4]

Awards[]

References[]

  1. ^ "たけくらべ (Takekurabe)". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  2. ^ "たけくらべ (Takekurabe)" (in Japanese). Kinenote. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Nolletti Jr., Arthur (2008). The Cinema of Gosho Heinosuke: Laughter through Tears. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 214–225. ISBN 978-0-253-34484-7.
  4. ^ Anderson, Joseph L.; Richie, Donald (1959). The Japanese Film – Art & Industry. Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company.
  5. ^ "6th Blue Ribbon Awards" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 30 November 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2021.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""