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’s debut feature represented a quantum leap in the audiovisual grammar of Mexican cinema. What makes them even more impactful is how they just keep building off one another scene after scene. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs. It’s the 1960s, an era built on the bedrock of a post-war economy. Asked to help pay for an operation that would correct her nephew’s polio, she discards the plea as too expensive, and we never do find out if she springs for the loan. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs: They Endure an essay by Phillip Lopate at the Criterion Collection This page was last edited on 8 November 2020, at 14:32 (UTC). For a director whose vision is so frequently called pessimistic, what continuously engages and enthralls in When a Woman Ascends the Stairs is a lightness of touch, deft and coolly understated, like its cocktail jazz score. The culmination of it all feels like madness and at times there’s a surplus in the reservoirs of tragedy, but the final action, the smile on the face, the token salutation, are a final touch of irony. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, she works with her longtime manager and bill collector (Tatsuya Nakadai), trying to eke by an existence, paying off the creditors they must pay rent to. When A Woman Ascends The Stairs is a Japanese film about a bar hostess in Tokyo’s luxurious Ginza district who encounters a variety of social challenges as she meets with her family, her friends, and a wide range of customers. Become a Member and support film journalism. Receive a $6 Movie Rental. A middle-aged bar hostess, constantly in debt, is faced with numerous social constraints and challenges posed to her by her family, customers and friends. Her voice-overs, on the steps or during documentary-style cutaways of Tokyo, tend to describe in general terms the daily life of the Ginza district and the bar hostess’s lot. But as Keiko later admits, when she returns to her humble roots, it’s all a meticulously created fabrication. What is it about Naruse’s films that touches this belated responsive chord? The stairs in question are those of a bar in the red-light district of Tokyo and the woman who ascends them is Mama-San, the bar's chief hostess, but the stairs may just as well be those of a brothel for the girls who work these bars are basically prostitutes, (even in Japan in 1960 you could never be that explicit). For instance, when she flings the words “I hate you” at her admirer-­manager, the balance in sympathy shifts to him for the moment: he has done nothing to deserve such scorn. TV Shows . She weeps for herself, but do we weep for and with her? Because in one go she effectively represents an entire subset of human beings and imbues them with unmistakable pathos. They wear kimonos, buy perfume, and pay for taxis and apartments they can barely afford, way above their paygrade, just so they can maintain the fantasy for their obliging audience. Love hotels, geishas and hordes of hostesses to go with them. She’s finally human and she loves, and the scenes that evolve out of this development are the film’s most devastating. Patrons go to bars to escape the pressures of the world, the responsibilities of their … All Rights Reserved. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Cert PG) Peter Bradshaw @PeterBradshaw1. With its thought-provoking structure, interweaving story lines, and saturated colors, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s debut feature represented a quantum leap in the audiovisual grammar of Mexican cinema. 7 – 2000-Present: Life After the Handover, The History of Hong Kong Action Cinema Pt. When a woman ascends the stairs, she steps into the den of lions. 30-day returns. Receive a $10 Reward . If it’s steadfastly Japanese, then it’s equally universal. Analysis: When a Woman Ascends the Stairs is a poignant portrait of Keiko, a widowed 30-year-old bar hostess whom everyone respectfully calls ‘Mama’, as she works in Tokyo’s Ginza, the entertainment district associated with high fashion and luxury. Because they hold the power. She plays Keiko, a widow who supports herself as a bar madam, the chief attraction in whatever bar she works, by virtue of her beauty and superior refinement (hence the honorific Mama). Menu. The posthumous international triumph of Mikio Naruse is one of the most unique corrections in film history. I’m not sure if we could call it her stairway toward the “glass ceiling” exactly but she enters a new world — a restricting space — when she steps into work every evening. When her mother begs her for the necessary funds to keep her brother out of jail, Keiko’s first response is a haughty refusal; only later does she come around. It’s not a lie — all the things in front — but there is so much more to contend with. Follow his frequent musings at Film Inquiry and on his blog 4 Star Films. The scene where Sekine’s real wife tells Keiko that her husband keeps getting into trouble by chasing women and believing his own lies, while children circle the empty lot on a beat-up bike trailing a tin can, with power-plant stacks in the distance, is classic forlorn Naruse. (Often, the cutting underscores the cruelty, selfishness, and indifference of modern life, every man for himself, but not always.) 4.6 89%. T he new retrospective of Mikio Naruse … It’s hardly a sustainable life. After Mother (1952), Late Chrysanthemums (1954), Floating Clouds (1955), and Flowing (1956), he was ready to tackle the newly prosperous, go-getter Japan. Keiko or “Mama-san” (Hideko Takamine), as she is known by all, is one of the women living in this world. What’s presented is a different type of life, even as it develops its own fashionable conception of the world. The crisp black-and-white CinemaScope, xylophone-inflected jazz score, and modernist bar interiors give When a Woman Ascends the Stairs a glamorous, International Style sheen; its taste of gin and bitters goes down like a dry martini. Part of it comes from the detached point of view in Keiko’s own voice-overs, part from the careful plotting that makes each successive outcome seem plausible rather than operatic, and most of it from the visual style, which records the drama in evenhanded, worldly fashion. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960) External Reviews. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs - Mikio Naruse FILM REVIEW - Duration: 12:34. When a woman ascends the stairs, she steps into the den of lions. Because this is a film all about sex, though we never see it outright. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs is set in the singularly-Asian milieu of the so-called "snack bar." Unlock access to all of Film Inquiry`s great articles. Every cut conveys the solitary partiality of each character’s viewpoint, even the most minor. In short, she is a very human mixture of generous and self-protective. In a sense, she represents a more traditional Japanese set of values, in contrast to the mod, pecuniary libertinism sprouting up around her. Keiko Yashiro est une femme d'âge moyen qui travaille comme hôtesse dans un bar du quartier chic … 4 – 1960-1980: New Wave, How to Analyse Movies #8: Putting It Into Practice, How to Analyse Movies #7: Iconography & Realisticness, How to Analyse Movies #5: Lighting, Sound & Score, MPAA, Studios Fund 12-Step Programs For Women Directors (PARODY), Weinstein Scandal Should Affect The Outcome Of The EEOC Hollywood Probe (THR Guest Column), The EEOC Gender Probe: I Don’t Regret Starting the Fight, Women Directors & The Farce of Networking Programs, The Ripper: Come for The Investigation, Stay for Commentary, SMALL AXE: EDUCATION: Fight For Your Future, THE STAND: Doesn’t Realize Its Full Potential, SMALL AXE: ALEX WHEATLE: Growing Up, Rising Up, BILLIONS (S5E7) “The Limitless Sh*t”: This Is Scarface Drug, Not Limitless, BILLIONS (S5E6) “The Nordic Model”: An Old School Pissing Contest, BILLIONS (S5E5) “Contract”: The Sins Of The Fathers, KILLING EVE (S3E8) “Are You Leading Or Am I?”: Dancing To The Same Old Tune, THE QUEEN´S GAMBIT MINISERIES: A Striking But Unfulfilling Match, A TEACHER Miniseries: A Misfired Look Into Grooming, The Latest Podcast #15: Wonder Woman 1984, Soul, Film Inquiry Roundtable Videocast #14: Holiday-Palooza. 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