Ornamental Hairpin (1941) YIFY - Download Movie TORRENT

Well, overall, the Hiroshi Shimizu Eclipse set has been a bust for me. If you really desire to check it out, I suggest renting The Masseurs and a Woman. That's the only really good film in the set. Mr. Thank You is okay. The other two films, Japanese Girls at the Harbor and this one, are not bad, but both are kind of middling. Ornamental Hairpin feels kind of like a repeat of The Masseurs and a Woman. It also takes place at a resort spa, and has much the same kind of bittersweet romance. This one feels a lot thinner to me. Chishu Ryu (not recognizable) plays a soldier who steps on an ornamental hairpin while in the bath. The people around him are upset at his injury. He just hopes that the hairpin belongs to a beautiful woman. It does (Kinuyo Tanaka, of Ugetsu, Sansho the Bailiff and The Life of Oharu), and she comes back to the spa in person to apologize. A romance kind of sparks, but both parties are too shy to go for it. Most of the movie is comprised of the soldier exercising in order to get his foot into working condition (which makes no sense, honestly) while two children constantly shout at him in encouragement, with Tanaka shyly watching on. There are a bunch of other characters around the resort, too, but, except for maybe a cantankerous professor (Tatsuo Saito, who starred in I Was Born, But...), they don't really come off as anything besides poorly sketched caricatures. The film is also so vague at times that I was unsure of who some of the characters were (the two kids frequently seem like gamins who are just running around the spa, not belonging to anybody in particular). Chishu Ryu is so underdeveloped it's hard to really care whether he hooks up with Tanaka or not. It is often very pretty, of course, and there are a handful of very good sequences.

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by SpelingError 8 / 10

An underseen masterwork.

Shimizu explores the finiteness of time, yet gets you to recognize both the joy and sadness of it. Time manifests itself in a few different ways. You have the backdrop of soldier Nanmura on a short leave from the Pacific War, varied characters staying at the resort for the time being, the inevitably of Emi's uncertain future hanging over her, and the spa gradually emptying out as the occupants depart throughout the film. Nanmura's injury from the titular hairpin is the clear emotional core. Being the MacGuffin which holds Nanmura and Emi together, its presence also proves finite. With each day Nanmura's condition improves and with each trial he completes, one can feel each minute of his time at the spa running out since there's nowhere for him to go but forward. In less talented hands, this film could've just been a tragedy, but I was surprised as to how much humor and lightness Shimizu brought to the film. We have the adults keeping each other awake with their snoring, a professor constantly seeking a masseur, the children cheering Nanmura on throughout his trials, and the newfound love and family Emi finds through Nanmura and several characters. There's no telling what the future may bring, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself in the present. I also find it interesting how the entire main conflict is set off by something so insignificant - a single hairpin left on the ground. It creates a sense of escalation and makes the thematic richness all the more noteworthy given how slight the film should've otherwise been. Phenomenal ending, by the way. Overall, this was far more interesting than it had the right to be and more people should check it out.

Reviewed by zetes 6 / 10

Ornamental Hairpin

1941 [JAPANESE]

Action / Comedy / Drama

Ornamental Hairpin

1941 [JAPANESE]

Action / Comedy / Drama

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Movie Reviews

An underseen masterwork.

Kind of weak

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