The Moon Has Risen

Although this film was cowritten and gifted to Tanaka by Yasujiro Ozu, the sophomore director nonetheless made it her own. Set in picturesque Nara, the comedy revolves around three eligible daughters of a widower. When a childhood acquaintance arrives in town to set up a telecommunications hub—long-distance communications and coded telegrams are central to the plot—the youngest daughter (Mie Kitahara) begins a relentless matchmaking campaign to bring him together with her sister. Tanaka plays the housekeeper, who, in an amusing scene, is coached on her acting when called upon to impersonate the sister on the telephone.