Sound of the Mountain

Sound of the Mountain (山の音, Yama no Oto) is a 1954 Japanese drama film directed by Mikio Naruse. It is based on the novel The Sound of the Mountain by Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata.[2]

Sound of the Mountain
Original Japanese movie poster
Directed byMikio Naruse
Produced bySanezumi Fujimoto
Written by
Starring
Music byIchirō Saitō
CinematographyMasao Tamai
Edited byEiji Ooi (credited as Hideji Ooi)
Production
company
Distributed byToho
Release date
  • 15 January 1954 (1954-01-15) (Japan)
[1]
Running time
95[1]
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot

Shingo, an aging businessman, sees the marriage of his son Shuichi and his daughter-in-law Kikuko, who live in the same household, fall apart due to Shuichi's coldness and adulterous behaviour. Flattered by Kikuko's overt adoration for him, he tries to act as a cornerstone for her. His own daughter Fusako, who left her husband and moved back into her parents' home with her children, blames Shingo for her arranged and failed marriage and for his preference of Kikuko over her. Shingo accompanies Kikuko to a hospital visit, only to learn later that she aborted the child she expected from Shuichi. A secretary from Shingo's company helps him to find Kinu, Shuichi's mistress and an independent businesswoman, who tells him of his son's abusive behaviour. Kikuko finally decides to divorce her husband and, meeting Shingo in a park, tells her father-in-law that she wants to try to live a life on her own.

Cast
  • Setsuko Hara as Kikuko Ogata
  • So Yamamura as Shingo Ogata
  • Ken Uehara as Shuichi Ogata
  • Yoko Sugi as Hideko Tanizaki
  • Teruko Nagaoka as Yasuko Tanizaki
  • Yasuko Tan’ami as Ikeda
  • Chieko Nakakita as Fusako Aihara
  • Reiko Sumi as Kinuko (Kinu)

Legacy

Naruse biographer Catherine Russell sees Sound of the Mountain as a woman's film, as it reduces the book's perspective of Shingo in favour of the female characters who, with the exception of the passive Kikuko, act outspoken and independently, "trying to make their way in a world in which men like Shuichi have been psychologically destroyed by the war".[3] The last scene suggests the possibility of change for Kikuko, achieving a positive resolution of her problems.[3][4]

Naruse himself declared Sound of the Mountain one of his favourites of his films.[2]

References
  1. "Sound of the Mountain at the Japanese Movie Database" (in Japanese). Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  2. Russell, Catherine (2008). The Cinema of Naruse Mikio: Women and Japanese Modernity. Durham and London: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-4290-8.
  3. Russell, Catherine (2011). Classical Japanese Cinema Revisited. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1-4411-1681-9.
  4. Jacoby, Alexander (2008). Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-53-2.
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