Continuing on with our unofficial Hideko Takamine month, here's a quick look at my last watch, her 1964 movie Yearning aka Midareu. This was another film directed by Mikio Naruse, they did 12 films together, not all are masterpieces but they surely all deserve a watch, think this was the final one they did together.
Synopsis: Hideko plays Reiko, a widowed woman who continues to run the family's small grocery shop and still lives with them. Times are not good for the shop and the other small shops in the area as they are all losing business to the new and inexpensive supermarket which has just opened. Her younger brother in law Koji(Kayama) has no interest in the running of the store, he has recently quit his job at a firm and just hangs around gambling most days despite having a college degree.
Meanwhile, Koji's mother and two sisters are anxious to have Reiko out of the house so they can sell out to another large supermarket that is offering Koji the position of manager. Koji begs off stating that Reiko would be much more qualified, with the reply that Reiko would certainly be offered a position, as an employee. What also makes her life so confusing is that Koji has professed his love to her even though she is 12 years older, she politely refuses him but this is what finally drove her to the decision to leave the store and family and to head back to her hometown.
Reiko finally leaves but is followed by Koji and the two of them share a long, long train ride to her hometown but they never make it there as they depart the train before her destination. Staying at an inn Reiko finally tells Koji despite her being so flattered about his feeling towards her to take the next train back home as she would rather be by herself, though she really gives off the impression that she doesn't want to be alone, perhaps waiting for Koji to come on stronger(?), the viewer is just as confused about her feelings as she is. Finally Koji leaves the inn to get drunk at a bar and what happens next will not divulge here, but it's quite an unexpected and shocking conclusion.
In conclusion this turned out to be a solid watch, bit depressing and dark, filming it in B&W helped give it that tone, but as always a Naruse film, especially one that stars Hideko needs to be watched though a few of their other films they did together are slightly better. Don't like to rate the two of them's films but if you're a fan of either one it's certainly a recommended film, check below for the film info and trailer plus the next post has many Hideko screenshots from the movie.
Year: 1964 Length: 98 minutes Director: Mikio Naruse
Cast:
Hideko Takamine as Reiko Morita
Yuzo Kayama as Koji Morita
Mitsuko Kusabue as Hisako Morizono
Yumi Shirakawa as Takako Morita
Aiko Mimasu as Shizu Morita
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