Rent The Insect Woman / Nishi Ginza Station (1963)
3.8 of 5 from 83 ratings
3h 1min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
"My heroines are true to life - just look around you at Japanese women. They are strong, and they outlive men", director Shôhei Imamura once observed. And so an audacious, anthropological approach to filmmaking came into full maturity with the director's vast 1963 chronicle of pre- and post-war Japan, The Insect Woman (Nippon-konchûki, or An Account of Japanese Insects). Comparing his heroine, Tome Matsuki (played by Sachiko Hidari, who won the "Best Actress" award at the 1964 Berlin Film Festival for the role) to the restlessness and survival instincts of worker insects, the film is an unsparing study of working-class female life. Beginning with Tome's birth in 1918, it follows her through five decades of social change, several improvised careers, and male-inflicted cruelty. Elliptically plotted, brimming over with black humour and taboo material, and immaculately staged in crystalline NikkatsuScope, The Insect Woman is arguably Imamura's most radical and emphatic testament to female resilience. - Actors:
- Emiko Aizawa, Setsuko Amamiya, Tomio Aoki, Tomoko Aoyagi, Emiko Azuma, Hyôe Enoki, Kazuko Fujii, Makiko Fujisawa, Makiko Fukamachi, Masumi Harukawa, Yûzô Harumi, Sachiko Hidari, Joji Hidehara, Daizaburo Hirata, Jirô Hiratsuka, Frank Nagai, Masahiko Shimazu, Hisano Yamaoka
- Directors:
- Shôhei Imamura
- Producers:
- Kano Otsuka, Jirô Tomoda
- Writers:
- Keiji Hasebe, Shôhei Imamura
- Aka:
- Nippon konchûki (1963) / Nishi Ginza ekimae (1958)
- Studio:
- Eureka
- Genres:
- Classics, Comedy, Drama
- Collections:
- Masters of Cinema, The Instant Expert's Guide to Wes Anderson, Top Films
- Countries:
- Japan
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 20/02/2012
- Run Time:
- 181 minutes
- Languages:
- Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
- Subtitles:
- English
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.35:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- A video conversation about The Insect Woman between Imamura and critic Tadao Sato
