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Yoru no kawa

Undercurrent
Berlinale Classics 2023
© KADOKAWA CORPORATION 1956
Kiwa Funaki is an independent and successful woman. She creates kimono and tie designs that she markets herself from Kyoto, all the way to Tokyo. Her father, who dyes the textiles in his own factory, would like to see Kiwa married. But she rejects all her admirers, including a young artist and an obtrusive business partner. Then Kiwa meets a scientist from Osaka. Although she knows he is married, she begins an affair with him. But when his wife dies, she does not react as expected … Undercurrent renders Kiwa’s textile designs, largely based on motifs from the natural world, in bold colours. And in his first colour film, director Kōzaburō Yoshimura uses his protagonist as an exemplar to proffer a “design for living” that is as unconventional and modern as her prints. In this utterly unsentimental melodrama, he shines a light on not only the growing influence of western goods and values in Japan’s post-war society, but also the tradition-bound formality of interpersonal relationships. International premiere of the digitally restored version.
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by Kōzaburō Yoshimura
with Fujiko Yamamoto, Ken Uehara, Keizō Kawasaki, Michiko Ai, Kazuko Ichikawa, Michiko Ono, Shunji Natsume, Yōichi Funaki, Hikaru Hoshi, Kaketsu Yamacha Japan 1956 Japanese 104’ Colour International premiere of the digitally restored version.

With

  • Fujiko Yamamoto
  • Ken Uehara
  • Keizō Kawasaki
  • Michiko Ai
  • Kazuko Ichikawa
  • Michiko Ono
  • Shunji Natsume
  • Yōichi Funaki
  • Hikaru Hoshi
  • Kaketsu Yamacha

Crew

Director Kōzaburō Yoshimura
Screenplay Sumie Tanaka based on a novel by Hisao Sawano
Cinematography Kazuo Miyagawa
Editing Shigeo Nishida
Music Sei Ikeno, Kazuo Nakamoto
Sound Yukio Kaihara
Art Director Akira Naitō
Producer Masaichi Nagata

Produced by

Daiei Film

Additional information

DCP: Kadokawa, Tokyo