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The Ballad of Narayama
- 123 statements
- 23 feature instances
- 4 referencing feature instances
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The Ballad of Narayama is a 1958 film from Japan, directed by Keisuke Kinoshita.It is about the ancient and probably mythical Japanese practice of "obasute", in which the elderly were abandoned on a mountainside to die when they reached 70 years old. Orin (Kinuyo Tanaka) has the bad luck to be approaching her 70th birthday in a medieval Japanese village, where, due to the extremely narrow margin between life and starvation, the custom is practiced quite aggressively. Once Orin takes care of her last bit of family business, arranging for her 45-year-old widower son Tatsuhei to marry again, she is quite willing to take the one-way trip up nearby Mount Narayama. How willing is she? Orin has all her teeth, so to look more like a toothless old crone ready to die, she knocks out her own front teeth by smashing them against a grinding stone. In fact, the only people who don't want Orin to kill herself are Tatsuhei and his new wife Tama, who are very upset at the prospect.The 1958 film was the last movie Roger Ebert added to his Great Movies list before Ebert died in 2013. In 1983 it was re-made by director Shohei Imamura under the same title. That version won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_126ce03c | type |
I Was Quite a Looker | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_126ce03c | comment |
I Was Quite a Looker: The narrator does this on behalf of Orin, singing that "She was the beauty of the village as a young bride." | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_21bde5e8 | type |
The Tooth Hurts | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_21bde5e8 | comment |
The Tooth Hurts: The scene where Orin knocks out her teeth against a grindstone is deeply disturbing. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_21d70919 | type |
Crapsack World | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_21d70919 | comment |
Crapsack World: Is it bad when old people are schlepped up a mountain after they turn 70 and left there to become food for crows? Yes. Is it bad when the villagers not only kill a man for stealing food, but also kill his entire family of 12? Yes, yes it is. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_396e1c2a | type |
Face Death with Dignity | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_396e1c2a | comment |
Face Death with Dignity: Maybe too much dignity from Orin, who is way too cool with freezing to death on a mountainside. Definitely averted with her friend Mata, who has also crossed the magic 70-years-old mark, goes around the village begging for food after his son stops feeding him, and eventually has to be tied up and dragged to Narayama by his asshole son. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_396e1c2a | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_3eee0728 | type |
Captain Obvious | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_3eee0728 | comment |
Captain Obvious: "When three years pass, we get three years older." | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_49f20c6a | type |
Gory Discretion Shot | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_49f20c6a | comment |
Gory Discretion Shot: In the 1958 film, the camera mercifully cuts away just as Orin is about to smash her face against her grinding stone so that when she is carried to Narayama, she no longer has a full set of 28 teeth. The next time we see her, she is missing several top front teeth and has a mouthful of blood. The 1983 film is not so discreet. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_4f6cf75 | type |
Mirroring Factions | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_4f6cf75 | comment |
Mirroring Factions: Seemingly the message behind the shot of the train pulling into the station called "Obasute" at the end—that modern-day folks neglect their elders as well. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_52989fee | type |
Narrator | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_52989fee | comment |
Narrator: Plays the samisen while commenting on the action. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_55180ce | type |
Snow Means Death | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_55180ce | comment |
Snow Means Death: It certainly signals game over when the first snow of the season starts falling just after Tatsuhei drops his mother off on the mountainside to die. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_5bdcc85a | type |
Disney Villain Death | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_5bdcc85a | comment |
Disney Villain Death: Mata fights going up the mountain so hard that his son eventually throws him off the cliff. This enrages Tatsuhei, just back from dropping off his own mother. They fight, and Mata's son eventually goes plunging off the cliff as well. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_63389b0b | type |
Kids Are Cruel | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_63389b0b | comment |
Kids Are Cruel: Jeering "Orin the crone!" at poor Orin after she smashes her teeth out certainly qualifies. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_92dfffae | type |
Retraux | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_92dfffae | comment |
Retraux: The whole movie is staged in the manner of an old kabuki theater play, starting with a masked joruri who introduces the story, and continuing on with a narrator who comments on the action while playing a samisen. Additionally, the film is shot on obvious stages with obviously painted backdrops; several scene transitions are achieved via dropping the backgrounds while the set in the foreground splits in half, with the two halves being pulled out of shot in opposite directions. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_93789581 | type |
Elder Abuse | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_93789581 | comment |
Elder Abuse: Jesus. You see, once they reach 70, the elderly are taken to a mountain to die, however, Orin invokes this more directly, as she tries to make it seem like she has a reason to be left up there (as she's healthier than the usual ones) but her son is less inclined to carry on that practice. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_93deab19 | type |
Ominous Fog | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_93deab19 | comment |
Ominous Fog: Sets the mood as Tatsuhei, at the insistence of his mother and practically everyone else, carries her up the mountain. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_a2d1661a | type |
HappilyArrangedMarriage | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_a2d1661a | comment |
Happily Arranged Marriage: Tatsuhei is nervous about his mother setting him up with a complete stranger from a different village. But he and Tama hit it off, possibly because she's the only person in town who supports his desire to keep his mother alive. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_b504613c | type |
Don't Look Back | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_b504613c | comment |
Don't Look Back: One of the three rules about leaving your elders on a mountainside to die, which it turns out is quite the ceremony. After ditching Grandma, you are to go directly back without looking behind. Tatsuhei violates this in the end. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_c59bf35a | type |
Ballad of X | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_c59bf35a | comment |
Ballad of X | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_d028ca10 | type |
Deliberately Monochrome | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_d028ca10 | comment |
Deliberately Monochrome: The surprising coda. After the story is over we're treated to a brief epilogue in black and white, and in the modern day, which shows a train pulling into a station. The station is called "Obasute". | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_dbfd6b8 | type |
Lyrical Dissonance | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_dbfd6b8 | comment |
Lyrical Dissonance: The cheery tune the villagers sing about leaving old people on the mountain to die. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_e529d5c3 | type |
Torches and Pitchforks | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_e529d5c3 | comment |
Torches and Pitchforks: The whole town forms such a posse when Amaya, a particularly hungry villager with a large family, is caught stealing food. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_eb8ec7c8 | type |
Jerkass | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_eb8ec7c8 | comment |
Jerkass: Just about everyone in the town, but Orin's asshole grandson Kesakichi is the absolute worst. He can't wait for his grandma to bite the dust. He makes up a nasty song mocking Orin for still having all her teeth, because that's evidently a bad thing. | |
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The Ballad of Narayama / int_f3da74ff | type |
Creepy Crows | |
The Ballad of Narayama / int_f3da74ff | comment |
Creepy Crows: They lurk around the bone-strewn mountain clearing, for obvious reasons. | |
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
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Ballad of X / int_99b2088e | |
The Ballad of Narayama | hasFeature |
Dyeing for Your Art / int_99b2088e | |
The Ballad of Narayama | hasFeature |
Elder Abuse / int_99b2088e | |
The Ballad of Narayama | hasFeature |
Retraux / int_99b2088e |
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