Mikio Naruse

Known for: Directing
Born: August 20, 1905, Tokyo, Japan
Died: July 2, 1969
Movies: 84

Mikio Naruse (August 20, 1905 – July 2, 1969) was a Japanese filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer who directed some 89 films spanning the period 1930 (towards the end of the silent period in Japan) to 1967.

Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook. He made primarily shomin-geki (working-class drama) films with female protagonists, portrayed by actresses such as Hideko Takamine, Kinuyo Tanaka, and Setsuko Hara. Because of his focus on family drama and the intersection of traditional and modern Japanese culture, his films are frequently compared with the works of Yasujirō Ozu. His reputation is just behind Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, and Ozu in Japan and internationally; his work remains less well known outside Japan than theirs.

Akira Kurosawa called Naruse's style of melodrama, "like a great river with a calm surface and a raging current in its depths".

Best-Known Movies

8.0

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

1960

7.7

Floating Clouds

1955

8.1

Yearning

1964

7.4

Sound of the Mountain

1954

7.8

Two in the Shadow

1967

7.6

Repast

1951

7.2

Late Chrysanthemums

1954

7.2

Flowing

1956

7.3

Lightning

1952

7.0

Apart from You

1933

Filmography

2005	Mikio Naruse 100th Birth Anniversary
1935	Hana Yori Dango: Studio F's Cherry Blossom Viewing	Self

Directing, Writing & Producing

1967	Two in the Shadow	Director
1966	Moment of Terror	Director
1966	The Stranger Within a Woman	Director
1964	Yearning	Director, Producer
1963	A Woman's Life	Director
1962	A Wanderer's Notebook	Director, Producer
1962	The Wiser Age	Director
1961	The Other Woman	Director
1960	The Approach of Autumn	Director, Producer
1960	The Lovelorn Geisha	Director
1960	Daughters, Wives and a Mother	Director
1960	When a Woman Ascends the Stairs	Director
1959	A Whistle in My Heart	Director
1958	Summer Clouds	Director
1958	Little Peach	Director, Screenplay
1957	Untamed Woman	Director
1956	Flowing	Director
1956	A Wife's Heart	Director
1956	Sudden Rain	Director
1955	The First Kiss	Director
1955	Floating Clouds	Director
1954	Late Chrysanthemums	Director
1954	Sound of the Mountain	Director
1953	Brother and Sister	Director
1953	Wife	Director
1953	Husband and Wife	Director
1952	Lightning	Director
1952	Mother	Director
1952	Okuni and Gohei	Director
1951	Repast	Director
1951	Dancing Girl	Director
1951	Ginza Cosmetics	Director
1950	Battle of Roses	Director
1950	White Beast	Director, Writer
1950	The Angry Street	Director, Screenplay
1950	Conduct Report on Professor Ishinaka	Director
1949	Delinquent Girl	Screenplay, Director
1947	Spring Awakens	Director, Writer
1947	Four Love Stories	Director
1946	Both You and I	Director, Writer
1946	A Descendant of Urashima Taro	Director
1945	A Tale of Archery at the Sanjusangendo	Director
1945	Until Victory Day	Director
1944	The Way of Drama	Director
1944	This Happy Life	Director, Screenplay
1943	The Song Lantern	Director
1942	Mother Never Dies	Director
1941	Hideko the Bus Conductor	Director, Writer
1941	Shanghai Moon	Director
1941	A Fond Face from the Past	Director, Screenplay, Writer
1940	Travelling Actors	Director, Screenplay
1940	A Gentle Breeze With Father	Screenplay
1939	Sincerity	Director, Screenplay
1939	The Whole Family Works	Director, Screenplay
1938	Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro	Director, Screenplay
1937	Learn from Experience, Part Two	Director
1937	Learn from Experience, Part One	Director
1937	Avalanche	Director, Screenplay
1937	A Woman's Sorrows	Director, Screenplay
1936	Morning's Tree-Lined Street	Director, Writer
1936	The Road I Travel with You	Director, Screenplay
1936	Man of the House	Director, Writer
1935	The Girl in the Rumor	Director, Screenplay
1935	Five Men in a Circus	Director
1935	Wife! Be Like a Rose!	Director, Writer
1935	The Actress and the Poet	Director
1935	Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts	Director, Screenplay
1934	Street Without End	Director
1933	Sôbô	Director
1933	A Man with a Married Woman's Hairdo	Director
1933	Every-Night Dreams	Director
1933	Apart from You	Screenplay, Director
1932	No Blood Relation	Director, Writer
1932	Chocolate Girl	Director
1932	Moth-eaten Spring	Director
1932	Crying to the Blue Sky	Director
1931	The Strength of a Moustache	Writer, Director
1931	Flunky, Work Hard!	Director, Screenplay
1930	Love and Power	Director
1930	Hard Times	Director
1930	Pure Love	Director
1930	Mr. and Mrs. Swordplay	Director

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