A Fond Face from the Past Backdrop Blur
A Fond Face from the Past Poster
Japan
6.0 0h 34m

A Fond Face from the Past

A Fond Face from the Past is also set in a rural community, specifically a village outside Kameoka, near Kyoto. In some ways this short, thirty-six-minute film is Naruse's most moving negotiation of the militarist restrictions of the time, perhaps because it is also his most direct engagement with the culture of war. When a newsreel comes to Kameoka featuring a local man named Yoichi, it causes some excitement in the community and, of course, in Yoichi's own family. First of all his mother makes the newsreel (Nippon News, no. 14), which begins with the same marching music that opens his own film, followed by a curious baby judging context in Los Angeles featuring two hundred Japanese babies. Released in January 1941, almost a year before the pacific war begins, this “found footage” is indicative of Japanese imperialist ambitions beyond Asia long before Pearl Harbor.

Watch Now

Top Cast

  • Ranko Hanai

    Ranko Hanai

    Osumi

  • Takashi Kodaka

    Takashi Kodaka

  • Tsuruko Mano

    Tsuruko Mano

  • Kinji Fujiwa

    Kinji Fujiwa

  • Taizō Fukami

    Taizō Fukami

    Schoolteacher

  • Masaru Kodaka

    Masaru Kodaka

    Shin-chan

  • Sumihiko Hara

    Sumihiko Hara

    Ken-chan

  • Makoto Matsuzaki

    Makoto Matsuzaki

    Masa-chan

  • Fumio Okura

    Fumio Okura

    Masa-chan's father

Overview

A Fond Face from the Past is also set in a rural community, specifically a village outside Kameoka, near Kyoto. In some ways this short, thirty-six-minute film is Naruse's most moving negotiation of the militarist restrictions of the time, perhaps because it is also his most direct engagement with the culture of war. When a newsreel comes to Kameoka featuring a local man named Yoichi, it causes some excitement in the community and, of course, in Yoichi's own family. First of all his mother makes the newsreel (Nippon News, no. 14), which begins with the same marching music that opens his own film, followed by a curious baby judging context in Los Angeles featuring two hundred Japanese babies. Released in January 1941, almost a year before the pacific war begins, this “found footage” is indicative of Japanese imperialist ambitions beyond Asia long before Pearl Harbor.

Rating

6.0 / 10
8 Reviews
0 Popular

Recommendations

1

Early morning silence is broken by screeching tires as a helicopter bears down on a speeding vehicle. Taking a quick corner, the team tumbles out into the woods as their car pulls away. Now they must make their way through the thick of nature and thick gunfire to accomplish their mission. Not a single word of dialogue is spoken throughout the entire film. Instead, the music, sounds, images and deeply truthful acting turn a simple plot into an intense experience. Passion and intrigue keep building to the very end.

1

6.7 2020