The Insect Woman
| The Insect Woman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Shōhei Imamura |
| Written by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Shinsaku Himeda |
| Edited by | Matsuo Tanji |
| Music by | Toshiro Mayuzumi |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Nikkatsu |
Release date |
|
Running time | 123 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | $165,000[3] |
| Box office | $1 million[3] |
The Insect Woman (にっぽん昆虫記, Nippon konchūki, lit. "Entomological Chronicles of Japan"[4]) is a 1963 Japanese drama film directed by Shōhei Imamura. It was entered into the 14th Berlin International Film Festival, where Sachiko Hidari won the Silver Bear for Best Actress award.[5] It was also awarded numerous national film prizes.[6]
Plot[]
The film follows Tome, a young woman born to a rural lower-class family in Japan in 1918, who after a long series of mishaps rises to the status of a madam in the post-war era. When she is sentenced to jail, her daughter Nobuko becomes her patron's lover, but later steals his money to use it for building up a farming commune.
Cast[]
- Sachiko Hidari as Tome Matsuki
- Jitsuko Yoshimura as Nobuko
- Emiko Aizawa as Rui
- Masumi Harukawa as Midori
- Emiko Higashi as Kane
- Daizaburo Hirata as Kamibayashi
- Seizaburo Kawazu as Karasawa
- Teruko Kishi as Rin
- Tanie Kitabayashi as Madam
- Kazuo Kitamura as Chuji
- Asao Koike as Sawakichi
- Masakazu Kuwayama as Owagawa En's Lover
- Hiroyuki Nagato as Matsunami
- Shoichi Ozawa as Ken
- Sumie Sasaki as En
- Taiji Tonoyama as Foreman
- Shigeru Tsuyuguchi as Honda
Release[]
The Insect Woman was released in Japan on November 16, 1963.[1][2] It was re-released with Getsuyōbi no Yuka in February 1964.[3] The film earned $500,000 in four weeks upon its first release in Japan. Upon its re-release in 1964, it earned a similar amount.[3]
The film was later released as a region 1 NTSC DVD as part of The Criterion Collection's Shohei Imamura DVD box[7] and as a region B Blu-ray by Masters of Cinema.
Reception[]
Variety magazine declared the film being "potent adult film fare by any nation's standards" and praised the camera work by Masahisa Himeda and performances by Sachiko Hidari, Kazuo Kitamura and Jitsuko Yoshimura.[6] The review noted that the film takes place over a period of 45 years in an episodic technique "consciously causing viewer alienation".[6]
The film won 14 awards in Japan[6] including the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Film[8] and Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film of the Year.[9]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b "にっぽん昆虫記 (The Insect Woman)" (in Japanese). Nikkatsu. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "にっぽん昆虫記 (The Insect Woman)". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved July 6, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Le Sexy Hot Japan". Variety. 8 April 1964. p. 5.
- ^ Tessier, Max (1997). Shohei Imamura. Cinematheque Ontario. p. 60. ISBN 9780968296905.
- ^ "Berlinale 1964: Prize Winners". Berlin International Film Festival. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Film reviews: The Insect". Variety. June 24, 1964. p. 7.
- ^ "The Insect Woman". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
- ^ "1963 Blue Ribbon Awards" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
- ^ "The Insect Woman: Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
External links[]
- The Insect Woman at IMDb
- The Insect Woman at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)
- The Insect Woman: Learning to Crawl an essay by Dennis Lim at The Criterion Collection
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- 1963 films
- Japanese-language films
- 1963 drama films
- Japanese films
- Japanese drama films
- Japanese black-and-white films
- Best Film Kinema Junpo Award winners
- Films directed by Shohei Imamura
- Nikkatsu films
- 1960s Japanese film stubs