Muddy River Japan
1981, 105min.
Prod.: Motoyasu Kimura, Script: Takako Shigemori (from the novel by Teru Miyamoto), Dir.: Kohei Oguri, Dir. of Phot.: Shohei Ando, Compos.: Kuroudo Mori, Prod. Design: Akira Naito, Sound: Hiroyuki Hirai, Hideo Nishizaki, Edit.: Nobuo Ogawa.
Cast: Nobutaka Asahara, Takahiro Tamura, Mariko Kaga, Makiko Shibata, Minoru Sakurai, Yumiko Fujita, Gannosuke Ashiya.
It is 1956, eleven years after the war, and Japan is in some respects still a poor and struggling country. On the other hand, Japan was also becoming relatively prosperous because of the Korean War. Near the mouth of the muddy Aji River in Osaka there is a small riverbank restaurant run by a man named Shinpei and his young second wife. His son, nine year-old Nobuo, one day makes a new friend, a boy about the same age named Kiichi. He and his eleven year-old sister live on a houseboat, recently moored by the river, with their mother. Nobuo’s parents do not discourage his new friendship, indeed, they invite Kiichi and his sister to the restaurant but they tell Nobuo never to visit the houseboat at night. Naturally attracted toward what is forbidden, Nobuo does not understand his parent’s reasons but guesses it has something to do with his new friend’s mother. At this point he learns that Shinpei’s first wife is ill in the hospital, indeed, dying, and wants to see her ex-husband’s son. After visiting the dying woman Nobuo also accidentally sees Kiichi’s mother – sees her with customer. She is a prostitute and the boat is a floating whorehouse. She sees Nobuo as well and the next morning the houseboat is no longer there. The mother has had it moved. Searching frantically Nobuo finds it being towed down the river. He chases after it but it recedes more and more and is finally lost. Nobuo now knows something new about life.
Awards
Best New Director (Kohei Oguri, Hochi Film Awards,1981); Silver Prize (Moscow IFF, 1981); Best Cinematography (Shohei Ando), Best Director (Kohei Oguri), Best Lighting (Tadaaki Shimada) (Awards of the Japanese Academy, 1982); Best Cinematography Shohei Ando, Best Director (Kohei Oguri), Best Film (Kohei Oguri), Best Supporting Actress (Mariko Kaga) (Kinema Jumpo Awards, 1982); Best Actor (Takahiro Tamura), Best Director (Kohei Oguri), Best Film (Kohei Oguri) (Mainichi Film Concours, 1982); Best Cinematography (Shohei Ando, Yokohama FF, 1982); Best Film (Kohei Oguri, Blue Ribbon Award, 1982); Best Feature Film (Hawaii IFF, 1983).
Production Company
Rimura Productions
| Oguri, Kohei (born 1945, Maebashi, Japan)
Graduated from the Waseda University drama Department. He made his directing debut in 1981 with Muddy River, which was voted number one in Kinema Jumpo's best ten list, received the Blue Ribbon Prize, as well as Best Director award at the Mainichi Competition. The film won also the Moscow IFF Silver Prize and was nominated for the American Academy Prize (Foreign Films Section).In 1984 came For Kayako written by Lee Hwe-Song, which won the George Sadule Prize, a first for a Japanese director. In 1990,The Sting of Death won both the Cannes IFF Grand Prize of the Jury and the FIPRESCI. All three of these films were set in the 1950s, and dealt with “post-war life” and “the Japanese and I” themes. In 1996 Sleeping Man became the first film to be both written and directed by Oguri, and it drew much attention for being produced and set in his native Gunma prefecture. Nine years later, in 2005 Oguri's latest endeavor, The Buried Forest come out.
Filmography
Muddy River (1981),For Kayako (1984), The Sting of Death (1990), Sleeping Man (1996), The Buried Forest(2005).
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