When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

Hideko Takamine portrays the consummate Mikio Naruse heroine: high-minded, determined, and out of her element in a sordid world. Here it is the backstreet bars of Tokyo’s Ginza district, which Naruse re-creates in all its busy detail and nighttime poetry. Naruse’s approach to the world at the top of the stairs, like his protagonist’s, is never indelicate yet always unsentimental and direct. In an extraordinary opening few minutes, he lays out all the themes and problems of the film using the quick, telling brushstrokes of a master. But make no mistake: lives are in the balance. “An elegant essay in black-and-white CinemaScope and tinkling cocktail jazz” (Village Voice).