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    The Ballad of Narayama 1958 POSTER

    The Ballad of Narayama

    1958

    Japanese

    7.8

    12

    86%

    88%

    Drama

    dying traditions

    family relationships

    social convention

    Keisuke Kinoshita Keisuke Kinoshita Director Danko Ichikawa Danko Ichikawa as Kesakichi Seiji Miyaguchi Seiji Miyaguchi as Mata-yan Eijirô Tôno Eijirô Tôno as Messenger Masao Oda Masao Oda as One of the villagers who teaches Narayama's manners
    In Kabuki style, the film tells the story of a remote mountain village where the scarcity of food leads to a voluntary but socially-enforced policy in which relatives carry 70-year-old family members up Narayama mountain to die. Granny Orin is approaching 70, content to embrace her fate. Her widowed son Tatsuhei cannot bear losing his mother, even as she arranges his marriage to a widow his age. Her grandson Kesa, who's girlfriend is pregnant, is selfishly happy to see Orin die. Around them, a family of thieves are dealt with severely, and an old man, past 70, whose son has cast him out, scrounges for food. Will Orin's loving and accepting spirit teach and ennoble her family?
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