Repast

Mikio Naruse's Repast (1951) focuses on the struggles of a Japanese housewife as she tries to attain inner peace in a troubled marriage. Naruse continues to explore women who aim for happiness despite the restrictions set by the harsh reality - and succeeds very well by hiding surprising complexity in simple scenes and developing fascinating characters subtly.

Naruse's brilliant white and black photography and sneaky editing are effective in a partly minimalistic way because they don't draw a lot of attention to themselves: the camera moves calmly and the editing patterns are rather conventional. The most impressive aspect in Repast is the acting: Ken Uehara and Setsuko Hara are magnificent. Especially the latter is (as expected) impeccable as the conflicted and emotionally unstable housewife that carries the entire film. However, the film is not without a flaw: the soundtrack is a bit over the top although it mostly works sufficiently, but it does stand out quite a lot in the "restrained" form.

Mikio Naruse has proven to be an interesting director like his reputation suggested before I was introduced to his film properly. There's something life-affirming yet "realistic" about his films that make them intriguing and poetic. Repast is one of his finest achievements judging from the few films I've seen so far.

Score: 9 out of 10