The Naked Island (1960)
(Hadaka no shima)
Country: JAP
Technical: bw/2.35:1 94m
Director: Kaneto Shindo
Cast: Nobuko Otawa, Taiji Tonoyama
Synopsis:
A farming family eke out an existence on a tiny, waterless island offshore and must shuttle back and forth to the mainland for water to irrigate their crops. A boy dies of a fever.
Review:
Documentary-like, dialogue-less film about man's tenacious spirit; the first 36 minutes chart the course of a single day and much of the footage, and music, accompanies the repetitive comings and goings with their heavy burdens (the island is shaped like a coconut macaroon and so there is much steady progress up winding paths). When rain does come there is no sign of the family scurrying around to collect or channel it, and they have clearly not invested in a cistern to store such a valuable resource. But this is an only momentarily irksome flaw in what is a mesmerising piece of work, deserving a place alongside Woman of the Dunes as a major Japanese film about man's condition in the world.
(Hadaka no shima)
Country: JAP
Technical: bw/2.35:1 94m
Director: Kaneto Shindo
Cast: Nobuko Otawa, Taiji Tonoyama
Synopsis:
A farming family eke out an existence on a tiny, waterless island offshore and must shuttle back and forth to the mainland for water to irrigate their crops. A boy dies of a fever.
Review:
Documentary-like, dialogue-less film about man's tenacious spirit; the first 36 minutes chart the course of a single day and much of the footage, and music, accompanies the repetitive comings and goings with their heavy burdens (the island is shaped like a coconut macaroon and so there is much steady progress up winding paths). When rain does come there is no sign of the family scurrying around to collect or channel it, and they have clearly not invested in a cistern to store such a valuable resource. But this is an only momentarily irksome flaw in what is a mesmerising piece of work, deserving a place alongside Woman of the Dunes as a major Japanese film about man's condition in the world.
(Hadaka no shima)
Country: JAP
Technical: bw/2.35:1 94m
Director: Kaneto Shindo
Cast: Nobuko Otawa, Taiji Tonoyama
Synopsis:
A farming family eke out an existence on a tiny, waterless island offshore and must shuttle back and forth to the mainland for water to irrigate their crops. A boy dies of a fever.
Review:
Documentary-like, dialogue-less film about man's tenacious spirit; the first 36 minutes chart the course of a single day and much of the footage, and music, accompanies the repetitive comings and goings with their heavy burdens (the island is shaped like a coconut macaroon and so there is much steady progress up winding paths). When rain does come there is no sign of the family scurrying around to collect or channel it, and they have clearly not invested in a cistern to store such a valuable resource. But this is an only momentarily irksome flaw in what is a mesmerising piece of work, deserving a place alongside Woman of the Dunes as a major Japanese film about man's condition in the world.