Rent The Ballad of Narayama (1983)
3.7 of 5 from 114 ratings
2h 10min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- In a small village in a remote valley where the harshness of life dictates that survival overrules compassion, elderly widow Orin is approaching her 70th birthday - the age when village law says she must go up to the mythic Mount Narayama to die. But there are several loose ends within her own family to tie up first.
- Actors:
- Ken Ogata, Sumiko Sakamoto, Tonpei Hidari, Aki Takejô, Shôichi Ozawa, Fujio Tokita, Sanshô Shinsui, Seiji Kurasaki, Junko Takada, Mitsuko Baishô, Taiji Tonoyama, Kêshî Takamine, Nenji Kobayashi, Nijiko Kiyokawa, Akio Yokoyama, Kaoru Shimamori, Yukie Shimura, Masami Okamoto, Hideo Hasegawa, Ben Hiura
- Directors:
- Shôhei Imamura
- Producers:
- Jirô Tomoda, Goro Kusakabe
- Writers:
- Shôhei Imamura, Shichirô Fukazawa
- Aka:
- Narayama Bushikô
- Studio:
- Eureka
- Genres:
- Drama
- Collections:
- A Brief History of Old Age on Screen: Part 2, Best Film Quests and Adventures, Films by Genre, Masters of Cinema, A Brief History of Film..., Top 10 Cannes Palme d'Or Winners, Top Films
- Countries:
- Japan
- Awards:
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 24/10/2011
- Run Time:
- 130 minutes
- Languages:
- Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
- Subtitles:
- English
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Exclusive New Video Interview with Scholar Tony Rayns
- Four Japanese Theatrical Trailers
- Behind-the-Scenes Footage
More like The Ballad of Narayama
Found in these customers lists
382 films by humilityprim
Reviews (1) of The Ballad of Narayama
Tradition as Weather, Horror as Fact - The Ballad of Narayama review by griggs
You don't so much watch this as sit there bracing yourself. The Ballad of Narayama drops you into a mountain village where tradition has the weight of weather; it's everywhere, it's taken for granted, and it can still kill you. It's bleak, unflinching, and hard to look away from.
Imamura lays out the customs, including ubasute (carrying the elderly up the mountain to die), with a cool, steady gaze. He doesn't stop to moralise, which somehow makes it hit harder. The horror isn't supernatural; it's hunger, sex, status, and the way "this is how it's done" turns into a weapon.
The final stretch is the clincher: that near-wordless climb is absolutely wrenching, and it lingers in the body. No wonder Ari Aster has championed it—you can feel the echo of modern folk dread here, except it's grounded in mud, breath, and blood.
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.