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5.5 0h 50m

Song of Home

Mizoguchi’s 30th film is the earliest surviving example of his work, and his only film of the 1920s to survive complete. Song of Home finds the director already concerning himself with the collision of traditional and modern values. The film is structured around the contrast of two country-bred boys: a coach driver who has never left his home, and a student who returns from Tokyo with city-slicker affectations and Western jazz records. Produced by the Ministry of Education, the film has a simplistic lesson-plan at its heart, but what lingers in the mind after viewing are its more ineffable qualities: The dulcet, lyric, evocation of a disappeared rural past.

Top Cast

  • Shigeru Kido

    Shigeru Kido

    Naotaro Takeda

  • Masujirô Takagi

    Masujirô Takagi

    Naotaro's father

  • Sueko Ito

    Sueko Ito

    Naotaro's mother

  • Mineko Tsuji

    Mineko Tsuji

    Okinu

  • Kentaro Kawamata

    Kentaro Kawamata

    Junichi Okamoto

  • Shiro Kato

    Shiro Kato

    Junichi's father

  • Shizue Matsumoto

    Shizue Matsumoto

    Junichi's mother

  • Michiko Tachibana

    Michiko Tachibana

    Taro Maesaka

  • Hiromichi Kawata

    Hiromichi Kawata

    Elementary school principal

Overview

Mizoguchi’s 30th film is the earliest surviving example of his work, and his only film of the 1920s to survive complete. Song of Home finds the director already concerning himself with the collision of traditional and modern values. The film is structured around the contrast of two country-bred boys: a coach driver who has never left his home, and a student who returns from Tokyo with city-slicker affectations and Western jazz records. Produced by the Ministry of Education, the film has a simplistic lesson-plan at its heart, but what lingers in the mind after viewing are its more ineffable qualities: The dulcet, lyric, evocation of a disappeared rural past.

Rating

5.5 / 10
10 Reviews
0 Popular

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