Lightning

1952 [JAPANESE]

Action / Drama

9
IMDb Rating 7.5/10 10 926 926

based on novel or book parent child relationship bus sister

Plot summary

The story of Kiyoko, a young woman who has successfully managed to make a break with her dysfunctional family who have been trying to arrange a marriage for her with a disagreeable man whom she has rejected.

Director

Mikio Naruse Photo
Mikio Naruse

Top cast

Chieko Murata Photo
Chieko Murata as Nuiko
Mitsuko Miura Photo
Mitsuko Miura as Mitsuko
Jun Negami Photo
Jun Negami as Shuzo
Eitarô Ozawa Photo
Eitarô Ozawa as Tsunakichi
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
802.06 MB
968*720
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 27 min
Seeds ...
1.45 GB
1440*1072
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 27 min
Seeds 2

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by simon-1303 6 / 10

Families are a mixed blessing

This is about a fairly dysfunctional family: multiple fathers who seem to have left the scene and bickering adult siblings with problems. I scored this a bit low because I wasn't sure what was going on. One could see the big picture of sis trying to get out from under but otherwise, it seemed a mishmash of interactions which were fairly predictable and didn't take the plot anywhere.It's well-shot and edited; Naruse always is; but without any evident direction, it's hard to stay engaged. I'm afraid I nodded off a bit, so perhaps I missed something, but it wasn't easy to stay focused when nothing much was happening. What there was was crashing great points without much subtlety; unusual for Naruse.
Reviewed by daleac 7 / 10

Family burdens laid thick, then lightened

When a retrospective of films directed by Mikio Naruse played in my area a short while ago, I saw quite a few of them in a short span of time, including many of the ones considered classics -- "Repast," "Floating Clouds," "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs," and so on. While I enjoyed them all, some of the plots and characters of the films became muddled in my mind because of the compressed time frame in which I saw them.Yet parts of this family drama, "Inazuma" ("Lightning"), keep coming back to me months afterward. I think it's because the story resonates so closely with my experience -- that of a young adult trying to make his or her way in the world while struggling with the simultaneous tug and repulsion of one's blood relations. The movie realistically portrays the frustration and misery that can occur within a family under adverse circumstances. But it contains a tinge of hopefulness as well.Most of us, at one time or another, have become disgusted with members of our family and have felt like running away from them rather than dealing with them and their attendant obligations. "Familiarity breeds contempt," the saying goes. At such times we might even feel more comfortable associating with strangers than with our own kin. That pretty well describes the feelings of Hideko Takamine's character, Kiyoko, during this film. She is the youngest of four adult siblings, each fathered by a different man by their now graying, hapless mother. As the story progresses, Kiyoko becomes increasingly frustrated at her flawed siblings and their constant bickering, begging, and self-pity until she decides she just can't stand them anymore and moves across town in search of a more tranquil domestic life. And for a while she seems to find it.This probably doesn't sound like a pleasant film to watch, and indeed much of the movie is one agonizing episode after another for Kiyoko. But these episodes often play out in humorous fashion. And the sublime conclusion makes this film especially memorable. Without being too specific, I will say that the ending sequence, in which Kiyoko and her mother have it out with each other, is a masterfully filmed composition of acting, dialogue, and music. It's stirring on many levels. One part of that scene, in which Takamine gazes out her window to the house next door, keeps returning to my mind week after week."Lightning" is an emotionally true and ultimately quite satisfying portrayal of an young woman's search for personal happiness in the midst of familial conflict. Much of the credit should go to Takamine's expressive acting, Naruse's skillful intercutting, and Fumiko Hayashi's deftly written story. This is the second of Naruse's films based on stories by Hayashi ("Meshi," a.k.a. "Repast," was the first), and fortunately there would be four more: "Tsuma" ("Wife"), "Bangiku" ("Late Chrysanthemums"), "Ukigumo" ("Floating Clouds"), and "Hourou-ki" ("A Wanderer's Notebook"). I haven't seen "Wife," but the others are all worth seeing, in my opinion. For now, though, "Lightning" is the one I regard with the most affection.
Read more IMDb reviews

No comments yet

Be the first to leave a comment