“A contemporary of Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse (1905-1969) achieved a style that somewhat resembles both, yet remains unique among the old masters of the Japanese cinema. Like Ozu, Naruse generally avoids camera movement, large action, broad exterior settings, and periods other than the present. Like Mizoguchi, he concentrates on the feminine side of life. But Naruse's distinction lies in his storytelling tone and his ironic perception of human endeavor. There are few intense dramatic moments in his films; they are, rather, in his words, ‘just like life - nothing happens and there is no resolution.' Momentous changes of feeling are conveyed through eye movements, a shift in posture, a sentence that trails off unfinished. People struggle to attain love, or even a cessation of pain, but they never reach an understanding. These are, as Akira Kurosawa has said, films that ‘look as if nothing is happening on a smooth surface, but like deep rivers they hide a violent current in their depths.'” --Audie Bock
