The Village (1975)
This appears to be a labor of love. Its about a village which is given the opportunity to put on a musical. They would have to pay the overhead and, being that they are farmers and always busy and not rich, question the wisdom and feasibility of such an idea. A spokesperson for the acting troupe Ms. Kono lays out the whole thing and they must decide. You get little slices of rural life in Japan far, at least in sentiment, from Tokyo. The best thing about this film is that it has heart. The acting is good, but it is really about the simple storyline of outing on a show. Films rarely get made with such simplistic plots these days. Enjoy this little slice of what city people call “the simple life”.
Director: Yoji Yamada
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Chieko Baisho as Hideko Kono |
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Akira Terao as Takashi Saito |
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Masami Shimojō as |
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Hideji Ōtaki as |
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Hisashi Igawa as |
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Chieko Misaki as |
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Atom Shimojo as |
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Tokuko Sugiyama as |
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Masao Imafuku as |
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Makoto Akatsuka as |
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Yoshie Ichige as |
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Mari Okamoto as |
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Kazuhiko Kasai as |
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Kenji Kimura as |
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Akihiko Hanyû as |
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Yoshiko Togawa as |
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Katsuhiko Tamura as |
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Kiyoshi Atsumi as |
| Directing | Yoji Yamada | Director |
| Writing | Yoji Yamada | Writer |
| Camera | Tetsuo Takaha | Director of Photography |
| Art | Kiminobu Satō | Art Direction |
| Camera | Sôhei Hasegawa | Still Photographer |
| Writing | Yoshitaka Asama | Writer |
| Production | Kiyoshi Shimazu | Executive Producer |
| Production | Toru Najima | Executive Producer |
| Lighting | Yoshifumi Aoki | Lighting Technician |
| Editing | Iwao Ishii | Editor |
| Sound | Kyōko Okada | Original Music Composer |
| Sound | Hiroshi Nakamura | Sound Recordist |
| Sound | Ryuji Matsumoto | Sound Mixer |
| Sound | Katsuyuki Itô | Sound Effects |