Film Still

Ornamental Hairpin

Hiroshi Shimizu

Japan

1941

71 minutes

Black and White

1.33:1

Japanese

Synopsis

Two bruised souls enact a tender, hesitant romance in Hiroshi Shimizu’s alternately poignant and playful wartime love story. A soldier (Chishu Ryu) is forced to prolong his stay at a rural spa when he accidentally cuts his foot on the titular object. Soon enough he tracks down its lovely owner (Kinuyo Tanaka) and finds himself smitten.

Cast

EmiKinuyo Tanaka
OkikuHiroko Kawasaki
Professor KataeTatsuo Saito
NanmuraChishu Ryu
HiroyasuShinichi Himori
Hiroyasu's wifeHideko Mimura
Old manKawara Kanji
TaroYokoyama Jun
JiroOtsuka Masayoshi

Credits

DirectorHiroshi Shimizu
ScreenplayKihan Nagase
Based on the story “Yottsu no Yubune” byMasuji Ibuse
CinematographySuketaro Inokai
Art directionIsamu Motoki
MusicTakaaki Asai
SoundKoichi Nakamura

From the Current

KINUYO TANAKA: 100 YEARS, 100-PLUS MOVIES

Oct 27, 2009

This month marks the centenary of Kinuyo Tanaka, one of Japan’s most prolific actors as well as a director in her own right. In honor of the occasion, Tokyo’s National Museum of Modern Art is holding a retrospective, and critic Chris Fujiwara has written a...

Eclipse Series 15:
Travels with Hiroshi Shimizu

by Michael Koresky Mar 16, 2009

JAPANESE GIRLS AT THE HARBOR: MAN OF THE PEOPLE It’s a fitting irony that director Hiroshi Shimizu preferred to make films about outsiders, since within the expanse...

Shining a Light on Shimizu

Mar 16, 2009

Dave Kehr heralds the rediscovery of “the oceanic depth and diversity of Japanese cinema” in recent years, “thanks in no small part to home video,” in a lovely New York Times piece on the latest...

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