Kon Ichikawa

The Makioka Sisters

The Makioka Sisters

This lyrical adaptation of the beloved novel by Junichiro Tanizaki was a late-career triumph for director Kon Ichikawa. Structured around the changing of the seasons, The Makioka Sisters (Sasame-yuki) follows the lives of four siblings who have taken on their family’s kimono manufacturing business, in the years leading up to the Pacific War. The two oldest have been married for some time, but according to tradition, the rebellious youngest sister cannot wed until the third, conservative and terribly shy, finds a husband. This graceful study of a family at a turning point in history is a poignant evocation of changing times and fading customs, shot in rich, vivid colors.

Film Info

  • Japan
  • 1983
  • 140 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • Japanese
  • Spine #567

Special Features

  • New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Audie Bock

    New cover by Peter Mendelsund

Purchase Options

Special Features

  • New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Audie Bock

    New cover by Peter Mendelsund
The Makioka Sisters
Cast
Keiko Kishi
Tsuruko
Yoshiko Sakuma
Sachiko
Sayuri Yoshinaga
Yukiko
Yuko Kotegawa
Taeko
Juzo Itami
Tatsuo
Toshiyuki Hosokawa
Hashidera
Koji Ishizaka
Teinosuke
Credits
Director
Kon Ichikawa
Producer
Kon Ichikawa
Producer
Tomoyuki Tanaka
Screenplay
Shinya Hidaka
Screenplay
Kon Ichikawa
Based on the novel by
Junichiro Tanizaki
Script consultant
Matsuko Tanizaki
Cinematography
Kiyoshi Hasegawa
Editing
Chizuko Osada
Original music by
Shinnosuke Okawa
Original music by
Toshiyuki Watanabe
Production design
Shinobu Muraki
Sound recorded by
Tetsuya Ohashi
Lighting by
Kojiro Sato

Current

The Makioka Sisters: Of Love and Money
The Makioka Sisters: Of Love and Money
Bringing Junichiro Tanizaki’s sprawling, elegiac histor­ical novel The Makioka Sisters (1948) to the screen would seem an undertaking tailor-made for Kon Ichikawa. The renowned writer’s work was familiar territory for the veteran director, who…

By Audie Bock

Lions in Winter
Lions in Winter
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