Repast (1951)

Essential Viewing

Japan

Feature Film

Original Title: めし

Director: Naruse Mikio

Writers: Ide Toshirō, Tanaka Sumie, Kawabata Yasunari, Hayashi Fumiko

Cinematographer: Tamai Masao

Composer: Hayasaka Fumio

Cast: Uehara Ken, Hara Setsuko, Shimazaki Yukiko, Sugi Yōko, Kazami Akiko, Sugimura Haruko

A young woman (Hara, excellent as ever) starts to question her lot-in-life when financial constraints and a young house-guest begin to exacerbate niggling marital troubles, in Naruse’s subtle family drama, which manages, without pointing a finger at anyone or thing in particular, to paint an overwhelmingly moving picture of the way that society imposes roles on to us all which, no matter how hard we try, we cannot avoid (with that in mind, the ostensibly happy ending is particularly devastating). Iain.Stott