Takekurabe (1955 film)

Takekurabe (たけくらべ, Takekurabe) (English titles include: Growing Up, Adolescence, Growing Up Twice, and Child's Play) is a 1955 Japanese drama film directed by Heinosuke Gosho. It is based on Higuchi Ichiyō's 1895-1896 novella Takekurabe.

Takekurabe
Japanese movie poster
Directed byHeinosuke Gosho
Produced by
  • Tsūjin Fukushima
  • Sadao Sugihara
  • Ippei Hata
Written by
StarringKazuo Kubo
Music byYasushi Akutagawa
CinematographyJoji Ohara
Distributed byShintoho
Release date
  • August 28, 1955 (1955-08-28)
[1]
Running time
95 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot

In Yoshiwara during the Meiji era, teenage boy Shinnyo helplessly witnesses not only his sister being sold to an already married man by his father, but also the fate of Midori, the girl he is in love with, who is destined to become a courtesan like her older sister Omaki.

Cast

Production and legacy

Takekurabe was independently produced by Tsūjin Fukushima's company "New Art Productions", which resulted in budgetary constraints and compromises in the filming. It received mixed reviews during its initial run for being "overliterary" and the casting of pop star Hibari Misora.[2] Film scholar Donald Richie and Gosho biographer Arthur Nolletti later called Takekurabe an "outstanding example" (Nolletti)[2] of the Meiji-mono (Meiji period film) and "one of the finest due to its excellent sets" (by Kubo Kazuo), "its superb photography and the nearly perfect performances" (Richie).[3]

Awards

References
  1. "たけくらべ (Takekurabe)". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  2. Nolletti Jr., Arthur (2008). The Cinema of Gosho Heinosuke: Laughter through Tears. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 214–225. ISBN 978-0-253-34484-7.
  3. Anderson, Joseph L.; Richie, Donald (1959). The Japanese Film – Art & Industry. Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company.
  4. "6th Blue Ribbon Awards" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 30 November 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
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