Children of Hiroshima (August 5th and 6th at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[CHILDREN OF HIROSHIMA screens Friday August 5^th at 7:15 pm and Saturday August 6^th at 5:00 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Does the end justify the means? In the case of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, there are compelling arguments both for and against that notion. What cannot be disputed is the horror and devastation the attack unleashed. Tens of thousands of people died instantly, and the effects of the attack continued to take a toll for years to come.

Director Kaneto Shindô's CHILDREN OF HIROSHIMA takes an unblinking look at those lingering effects 6 years after the bombing through the eyes of school teacher Takako Ishikawa (Nobuko Otowa). She survived the bombing, although her parents and sister did not. Now Takako lives on an island with her Aunt and Uncle, and seems to be getting on with her new life quite well. For her vacation, Takako decides to return home to visit friends and see the graves of her family members.

The Naked Island (July 29th and 30th at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[THE NAKED ISLAND screens Friday July 29^th at 7:20 pm and Saturday July 30^th at 5:00 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

The family of four in director Kaneto Shindo's THE NAKED ISLAND spend almost the entire film without uttering a word. They don't have time for talk; they're too busy simply trying to survive. The father (Taiji Tonoyama) and mother (Nobuko Otowa) strain as they carry buckets of fresh water brought by canoe from the larger neighboring island up the steep hills to their garden. The two young boys (Shinji Tanaka and Masanori Horimoto) do their part, as well, doing what household chores they can manage. Meals and sleep provide the only respite. The older boy attends school, letting us know that the parents want their offspring to have a better life without it needing to be said.

Onibaba (July 22 at 9:55 p.m. and July 23 at 5 p.m. at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[ONIBABA screens Friday July 22nd at 9:55 pm and Saturday July 23rd at 5 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.)

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.


See these reeds? ONIBABA is like that, and more.
In the favorite of my many part-time jobs, I arrive at work adjacent to a stand of reeds, just over head-height, constantly undulating in the wind. I've stared at the ever-rustling fronds obsessively and even filmed them, probably because of my psychological scarring from early exposure to this 1964 samurai horror tale from director Kaneto Shindo.