Fuefuki River (Fuefuki-gawa)
Dir. by Keisuke Kinoshita
1960. 123 min. 35 mm. B&W with color.

In Japanese, with English subtitles.

Audaciously adapted from Shichiro Fukazawa’s historical novel, the story chronicles five generations of a poor farmer’s family living on the bank of Fuefuki River near Mt. Fuji. Their modest hope of raising a family peacefully is continuously crushed as male family members are taken to war one by one, falling to the mercy of the powerful samurai. Kinoshita tinted parts of the black and white film with color, creating an intriguing effect in portraying the horrors and desperation of the warfare and resilient spirit of the people despite hardship.

Print courtesy of The Japan Foundation Library.

Part of the series Of Ghosts, Samurai and War: A Series of Classic Japanese Film, held in conjunction with the exhibition Kamakura: Realism and Spirituality in the Sculpture of Japan, on view at Asia Society Museum from February 9 to May 8, 2016.