It's also elegantly shot and scored; all that's missing is a touch of humour.
Comment
06/29/07
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
100 %
Reviews Counted: 13 Fresh: 13 Rotten:0 Average Rating: 8.2/10
Rated: PG
Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins
Theatrical Release: 29-06-2007
Synopsis: A stunning drama about a ginza bar hostess as she approaches the perilous age of 30. [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Hideko Takamine, Tatsuya Nakadai, Masayuki Mori, Reiko Dan, Daisuke Kato
Reviews
1 - 15 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Top Critic
The new retrospective of Mikio Naruse at London's BFI Southbank will do much to restore the reputation of a neglected Japanese director, and this 1960 film is a heartbreaking study, to be compared with Mizoguchi's Life of Oharu.
06/29/07
Top Critic
Shot in luminous black and white cinemascope, this is an exquisitely understated study of the plight of a young woman in an unforgiving society.
06/29/07
Top Critic
The money-grubbing realities of late 1950s Tokyo make for riveting viewing in Naruse's naturalistic classic. These are no ordinary memories of a geisha.
06/29/07
Top Critic Top Critic Top Critic
Lustrously photographed in monochrome by Masai Tamai, this is essentially a Tokyo twist on Nights of Cabiria (1957), with Mikio Naruse and Hideko Takamine replacing Fellina and Masina's kooky optimism with a fatalistic humanism.
06/29/07
Top Critic
Even a casual viewing of When a Woman Ascends the Stairs shows what a gifted humanist Naruse was.
04/26/07
Naruse creates an affecting scenario of modern Japanese society and the pitfalls a woman in such a patriarchal society must face.
07/17/06
The final close-up—featuring Keiko smiling in lieu of tears—might be frozen, framed, and subtitled "Lady Sings the Blues."
11/03/05
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05/09/05
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1 - 15 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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