Japan Society Film

Japan Society Film Screening Japanese cinema from classics to contemporary premieres at Japan Society in NYC. Organizers of : Festival of New Japanese Film.

Norimizu Ameya and Kyusaku Shimada, in 1955, in Tokyo Grand Guignol's play "Mercurio", circa 1985.Scan courtesy of Ang...
04/24/2025

Norimizu Ameya and Kyusaku Shimada, in 1955, in Tokyo Grand Guignol's play "Mercurio", circa 1985.

Scan courtesy of Angura Research Center.

The first Japanese talkie to be screened in New York—and one of the earliest Japanese films to be theatrically released ...
04/23/2025

The first Japanese talkie to be screened in New York—and one of the earliest Japanese films to be theatrically released in the United States—WIFE! BE LIKE A ROSE! played for one week in April of 1937 under the title KIMIKO. An early masterpiece from Naruse which gained widespread success, Naruse’s third P.C.L. production is a playful comedy starring his wife-to-be Sachiko Chiba (the pair would marry in 1937 before divorcing in 1942) as the witty modern girl Kimiko. A well-dressed, middle class girl preparing for marriage, Kimiko embarks on a journey to retrieve her estranged father who left behind her poet mother some 15 years earlier. Beyond its light tone and unexpected focus on bourgeoisie types, a subject matter Naruse did not feel comfortable with, also of note was the film’s experimental nature. Critic Dave Kehr would characterize the ending as “an explosion of cinematic self-consciousness that would not recur in a narrative film until the arrival of the French New Wave.”

Screening 5/10 as part of "Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us" on a 35mm import: japansoc.org/Rose

Hideko Takamine on the set of FLOATING CLOUDS (1955).Takamine’s heartbreaking performance as Yukiko is perhaps her fines...
04/20/2025

Hideko Takamine on the set of FLOATING CLOUDS (1955).

Takamine’s heartbreaking performance as Yukiko is perhaps her finest hour; Naruse's masterpiece opens "Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us" on 5/9 in an imported 35mm print: japansoc.org/FloatingClouds

William Wyler talks with Kinuyo Tanaka at the Imperial Hotel on April 18, 1955—70 years ago —in Tokyo, Japan.Wyler came...
04/18/2025

William Wyler talks with Kinuyo Tanaka at the Imperial Hotel on April 18, 1955—70 years ago —in Tokyo, Japan.

Wyler came to Japan with his family for vacation before finalizing FRIENDLY PERSUASION (1956). The Directors Guild of Japan hosted a welcoming party during his visit. Ozu, then president of the Guild, spoke with Wyler at the party and, like many Japanese directors of the time, including Akira Kurosawa, was a notable admirer of Wyler's work. Ozu would describe being “disappointed to learn that Wyler’s shirt was made of nylon.”

“Japanese Cinema lost one of its giants on March 25, 2025,” writes former Japan Society Film Curator Kyoko Hirano. Masah...
04/17/2025

“Japanese Cinema lost one of its giants on March 25, 2025,” writes former Japan Society Film Curator Kyoko Hirano. Masahiro Shinoda (1931-2025)—the last leading figure of the Japanese New Wave movement—was a boundary-pushing auteur who maintained a close relationship with Japan Society's film department over the course of nearly 50 years. From premiering his film DEMON POND (1979) to supporting his later productions, explore our close relationship with the astonishing filmmaker.

Read Hirano’s full tribute: japansoc.org/Shinoda

A wartime shoshimin eiga (common people drama), SINCERITY begins simple enough with the issuance of report cards from a ...
04/15/2025

A wartime shoshimin eiga (common people drama), SINCERITY begins simple enough with the issuance of report cards from a rural school. Classmates Nobuko and Tomiko’s placements have inverted, as the former’s top marks drop while the latter rises to top of her class. This sudden change instigates an even greater drama when Nobuko’s mother quarrels with her father, revealing a romantic past with Tsuta, Tomiko’s single mother. Overhearing the conversation, Nobuko shares the secret with Tomiko. Capturing the lyrical beauty of sunlit pastorals, SINCERITY leaves the adult drama on the periphery as Naruse pivots to the children’s reactions, evoking their perceptions of the crisis which follows.

Mikio Naruse's 1939 feature screens on an imported 35mm print courtesy of the National Film Archive of Japan on 5/10: japansoc.org/Sincerity

Akira Kurosawa and Mikio Naruse during the making of AVALANCHE (1937).Kurosawa, who worked as an assistant director for ...
04/13/2025

Akira Kurosawa and Mikio Naruse during the making of AVALANCHE (1937).

Kurosawa, who worked as an assistant director for the film's production, would recall, “[Naruse] did everything himself, leaving his assistant directors to sit around idle. One day on the set, I had nothing to do… so I lay down on [a velvet curtain]... and promptly went to sleep. The next thing I knew, one of the assistant lighting technicians was prodding me awake. 'Run!' he said. 'Naruse's mad.' In a panic, I fled through a ventilation hole in the back of the stage... When I came nonchalantly through the front entrance to the stage, Naruse was coming out. 'What’s wrong?’ I asked, and he replied, ‘Somebody’s snoring on the stage. My day’s ruined, so I’m going home.’ To my great shame, I was unable to admit that I had been the culprit. In fact, I didn’t bring myself to tell Naruse the truth until ten years had passed. He thought it was very funny.”

Original 1959 Italian Duo Foglio poster for THE LIFE OF OHARU with artwork by Carl Antonio Longi.Mizoguchi's masterpiece...
04/12/2025

Original 1959 Italian Duo Foglio poster for THE LIFE OF OHARU with artwork by Carl Antonio Longi.

Mizoguchi's masterpiece screens next Friday 4/18 on 35mm: japansoc.org/Oharu

Entrenched in the devastating reality of postwar Japan, Naruse’s masterpiece adapts Fumiko Hayashi’s final completed nov...
04/11/2025

Entrenched in the devastating reality of postwar Japan, Naruse’s masterpiece adapts Fumiko Hayashi’s final completed novel to trace the lives of two repatriated lovers reunited in the ruins of a defeated nation. The wartime affair of Tomioka, a married Forestry Ministry officer (Masayuki Mori) and typist Yukiko (Hideko Takamine) continues in the postwar rubble, but their bleak existence pales against the faraway romance that took place in French Indochina. Reluctant to leave his wife, the lecherous Tomioka comes and goes at his leisure to visit Yukiko, who clings to him desperately, propping up the vestiges of their long-lost passion over the course of years. Takamine’s heartbreaking performance is perhaps her finest hour, a role of sheer emotional magnitude that bears an agonizing love, drawn from the fading memory of what once was.

FLOATING CLOUDS opens "Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us" in an imported 35mm print on 5/9: japansoc.org/FloatingClouds

Japan Society and Metrograph are pleased to announce “Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us”—a groundbreaking 30-film retro...
04/10/2025

Japan Society and Metrograph are pleased to announce “Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us”—a groundbreaking 30-film retrospective co-presented with Japan Foundation, New York commemorating the 120th anniversary of Naruse’s birth, whose influential works captured the lives of women and the milieu of Japan’s working class.

Considered the fourth great master of Japanese cinema, Mikio Naruse (1905–1969) won the admiration of peers and critics alike through his stylistically understated and unflinchingly observed melodramas, utilizing a sparse cinematic vocabulary to invoke his pessimist outlook: "From the earliest age I have thought that the world we live in betrays us.”

Presented entirely on rare, imported archival celluloid prints, this two-part series marks the first New York survey of the prolific Golden Age filmmaker in 20 years.

Part I
May 9–31 at Japan Society
🎟️ Tickets on sale now at japansoc.org/Naruse

Part II
June 5–29 at Metrograph
🎟️ Tickets go on sale April 30 at metrograph.com

"[Mizoguchi] spoke the language of mise-en-scène. And anyone who loves cinema could not help but understand it and be mo...
04/03/2025

"[Mizoguchi] spoke the language of mise-en-scène. And anyone who loves cinema could not help but understand it and be moved by it."—Jean-Luc Godard on THE LIFE OF OHARU

Mizoguchi's masterpiece screens 4/18 on 35mm: japansoc.org/Oharu

Nastassja Kinski in Kyoto, 1980.
04/02/2025

Nastassja Kinski in Kyoto, 1980.

Toshiro Mifune, born on this day in 1920, in Venice, 1961.
04/01/2025

Toshiro Mifune, born on this day in 1920, in Venice, 1961.

"With its monochromatic pallor and flashes of chroma, Noburu Tanaka’s THE OLDEST PROFESSION (1974) brings forth a cross ...
03/28/2025

"With its monochromatic pallor and flashes of chroma, Noburu Tanaka’s THE OLDEST PROFESSION (1974) brings forth a cross of ATG and pinku film sensibilities."

Noboru Tanaka's masterpiece of the roman p***o genre is getting a North American blu-ray release via Film Movement, accompanied by new writing by our film programmer Alexander Fee: japansoc.org/440tuoY

R.I.P. Masahiro Shinoda (1931-2025), legendary New Wave master and close collaborator with wife and actress Shima Iwashi...
03/27/2025

R.I.P. Masahiro Shinoda (1931-2025), legendary New Wave master and close collaborator with wife and actress Shima Iwash*ta. Known for PALE FLOWER, HIMIKO and DOUBLE SU***DE, Shinoda visited Japan Society on numerous occasions, including the premiere of DEMON POND in 1979.

Golden age star Hideko Takamine was in 1924. One of the most celebrated actresses of the postwar, she is known for her...
03/27/2025

Golden age star Hideko Takamine was in 1924. One of the most celebrated actresses of the postwar, she is known for her work with Keisuke Kinosh*ta and 17 collaborations with Mikio Naruse, including WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS (1960) and FLOATING CLOUDS (1955).

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333 E 47th Street
New York, NY
10017

Opening Hours

Monday 11am - 7pm
Tuesday 11am - 7pm
Wednesday 11am - 7pm
Thursday 11am - 7pm
Friday 11am - 7pm
Saturday 11am - 5pm
11pm - 5pm
Sunday 11am - 5pm
11pm - 5pm

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