Underplayed Gems

Love Is Strength (1930)

Love Is Strength poster
Original title
愛 和 力 だ
Directed by
Mikio Naruse
Genre
drama film, silent film
Country
Japan
Runtime
1h 06m
Rating
9.0 of 10 from 1 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A silent drama from Japan about ordinary people, often following a woman's struggles with family and society. It shows the difficulties of everyday life with a heavy, sorrowful tone.

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What happens

Mikio Naruse (成瀬 巳喜男, Naruse Mikio; 20 August 1905 – 2 July 1969) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967. Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook. He made primarily shōshimin-eiga ("common people drama") films with female protagonists, portrayed by actresses such as Hideko Takamine, Kinuyo Tanaka, and Setsuko Hara. Because of his focus on family drama and the intersection of traditional and modern Japanese culture, his films have been compared with the works of Yasujirō Ozu. Many of his films in his later career were adaptations of the works of acknowledged Japanese writers. Titled a "major figure of Japan's golden age" and "supremely intelligent dramatist", he remains lesser known than his contemporaries Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, and Ozu. Among his most noted films are Sound of the Mountain, Late Chrysanthemums, Floating Clouds, Flowing and When A Woman Ascends The Stairs. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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