Film Forum

下町　ダウンタウン

Director Yasuki Chiba
Cast Isuzu Yamada, Toshirô Mifune, Keiko Awaji
Screenplay Fumiko Hayashi, Ryôzô Kasahara, Seiya Yoshida | Cinematography Rokurô Nishigaki
1957 | Japan | 35mm print courtesy National Film Archive of Japan | approx. 58 min. | In Japanese with English subtitles created especially for this screening

Lonely single mother/war widow Isuzu Yamada faces isolation and despair until she meets good guy truck driver Toshirô Mifune. Two legendary icons (Mr. & Mrs. Macbeth the same year in Throne of Blood) do simple ordinary people in this pure slice of life – with a climax unique in Mifune’s oeuvre. Based on the novel by feminist writer Fumiko Hayashi.

Translation and subtitles by Mimiko Goldstein.