The Ballad of Narayama (1983)

Film

Meta takes4

Figures

Objects & symbols

The central role of food: hunting for it, hoarding it, stealing it, and the lack of it driving all major plot points.

Locations

The sudden, heavy snowfall that begins just as Tatsuhei leaves Orin on the mountain.
The rugged, untamed natural landscape (forest, mountain, river) as a character in the film.

Form & technique

The opening shot of a modern camera crew filming a mountain, and the final shot of a modern city skyline. → The Alienation Effect
The scene where villagers bury the entire Amaya family alive for stealing food. → The Managed Body

Tropes

Orin breaking her front teeth with a stone. → The Abject
Cross-cutting between human actions (sex, childbirth, arguments) and animal behavior (snakes mating, a frog being eaten).
Tatsuhei carrying Orin up Mount Narayama in the snow.
The pervasive and unemotional depiction of sexuality, including Risuke's desperate need for a partner.
Tatsuhei's internal conflict between his duty to the village and his love for his mother, Orin.
The valley on Mount Narayama filled with skeletons and crows picking at fresh corpses. → The Uncanny
Orin's character: her strength, pragmatism, and active orchestration of her own death.
The film's thematic departure from the highly stylized, Kabuki-influenced 1958 version directed by Keisuke Kinoshita.
Imamura's overall directorial perspective on his subjects.
The recurring "Narayama-bushi" song, sung by an off-screen narrator.
The character Risuke ("Stinky Risuke"), who is ostracized for his smell and his overwhelming, animalistic sexual urges.
The village as a collective entity, acting in unison to enforce rules and punish transgressors.