The Cinematheque

“The most perfect and moving of Naruse’s family dramas.”

Dan Sallitt, A Mikio Naruse Companion

Naruse’s second adaptation of a Hayashi Fumiko novel is a lively portrait of family dysfunction that takes domestic squabbling to new heights (or perhaps new lows) in the director’s work. Divorcee Osei (Urabe Kumeko) has four children—three daughters and a son—by four different men. Youngest daughter Kiyoko (Naruse favourite Takamine Hideko), a bus tour guide, is the only one of the kids with a mind to escape her sordid surroundings. Her half-siblings, for their part, are trying to marry off Kiyoko to a middle-aged baker—but only because they have designs on the man’s money. When the husband of one of Kiyoko’s half-sisters dies, leaving behind a large insurance settlement, the machinations over money get more complex and more unsavoury. Lightning won three prizes at the Blue Ribbon Awards, determined by Japanese critics, including Best Film and Best Director.

In Japanese with English subtitles

“If, despite the loss and sadness in them, the worldview of [Naruse’s films] isn’t tragic, it’s because Naruse puts so much weight on the ability of his heroines to change their minds about their problems—a gift celebrated at the tears-turning-to-laughter end of Lightning.”

Chris Fujiwara, Film Comment

“An unassuming marvel, a work that teeters on the edge of romantic comedy but never succumbs … [It] remains undeservedly obscure.”

Kyle Westphal, Chicago Film Society