The Insect Woman
The Insect Woman (にっぽん昆虫記, Nippon Konchūki, lit. "Entomological Chronicles of Japan"[2]) is a 1963 Japanese film directed by Shohei Imamura. It was entered into the 14th Berlin International Film Festival where Sachiko Hidari won the Silver Bear for Best Actress award.[3]
| The Insect Woman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Shohei Imamura |
| Written by | Keiji Hasebe, Shohei Imamura |
| Starring | Emiko Aizawa, Masumi Harukawa, Sachiko Hidari |
| Music by | Toshiro Mayuzumi |
| Edited by | Matsuo Tanji |
| Distributed by | Nikkatsu |
Release date |
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Running time | 123 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | $165,000[1] |
| Box office | $1 million[1] |
Plot
A woman, Tome, (Sachiko Hidari) is born to a lower-class family in Japan in 1918. The film is a metaphor for life in Japan through the middle twentieth century, including World War II. The title refers to an insect, repeating its mistakes, as in an infinite circle. Imamura, with this metaphor, introduces the life of Tome, who keeps trying to change her poor life.
Cast
- Sachiko Hidari – Tome Matsuki
- Jitsuko Yoshimura – Nobuko
- Emiko Aizawa – Rui
- Masumi Harukawa – Midori
- Emiko Higashi – Kane
- Daizaburo Hirata – Kamibayashi
- Seizaburo Kawazu – Karasawa
- Teruko Kishi – Rin
- Tanie Kitabayashi – Madam
- Kazuo Kitamura – Chuji
- Asao Koike – Sawakichi
- Masakazu Kuwayama – Owagawa En's Lover
- Hiroyuki Nagato – Matsunami
- Shoichi Ozawa – Ken
- Sumie Sasaki – En
- Taiji Tonoyama – Foreman
- Shigeru Tsuyuguchi – Honda
Release
The Insect Woman was released in Japan on November 16, 1963.[4] It was re-released with Getsuyōbi no Yuka in February 1964.[1]
Reception
"Mich." of Variety declared the film as "potent adult film fare by any nation's standards" and praised the camera work by Masahisa Himeda and performances by Sachiko Hidari, Kazuo Kitamura and Jitsuko Yoshimura.[5] The review noted that the film takes place over a period of 45 years in an episodic technique that "consciously causing viewer alienation".[5]
The film won 14 awards in Japan including the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Film and Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film of the Year.[5]
The film earned $500,000 in four weeks in its first release in Japan. In its re-release in 1964, it earned a similar amount.[1]
References
- "Le Sexy Hot Japan". Variety. 8 April 1964. p. 5.
- Tessier, Max (1997). Shohei Imamura. Cinematheque Ontario. p. 60. ISBN 9780968296905.
- "Berlinale 1964: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2010-02-19.
- "にっぽん昆虫記" (in Japanese). Nikkatsu. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
- "Film reviews: The Insect". Variety. June 24, 1964. p. 7.
External links
- The Insect Woman at IMDb
- "にっぽん昆虫記 (Nippon konchuki)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
- The Insect Woman: Learning to Crawl an essay by Dennis Lim at the Criterion Collection