The Ballad of Narayama
Director: Shohei Imamura
Year Released: 1982
Rating: 2.0
It's a little difficult for me to buy into the supposed 'power' this film has, when Imamura's treatment of the material ranges from totally irreverent to dead serious, and often a scene with one mood is followed by a scene with a completely different mood. It's challenging to take seriously his theories on life, sex and death since he treats his villagers like a bunch of backwoods pissants who send their old to die up on the mountain because they're taking up space - it's a lot like that urban myth about Eskimos sending their elderly out on an iceberg to die and be eaten - and regards farm life as being the worst possible condition to end up in (children are sold for various things or food). There's a lot of sex going on - including the village idiot, who has chronic halitosis and an on-going romance with a fluffy white dog - to keep you watching; the footage of snakes and birds killing and mating highlight the obvious.
