Ballad of Orin

Film · Kazuo Miyagawa

Saturday, April 28, 7 PM

A late career highlight for Miyagawa, this gorgeously shot film about the life and tribulations of a wandering outcast goze (blind female musician) in early 20th-century Japan had Miyagawa and director Masahiro Shinoda travel all over the country to scout picturesque locations. After interviewing surviving goze in preparation, Miyagawa (whom Shinoda suggested was the film’s "real director") resolved to "create a sense of the ideal beauty that these blind women had inwardly visualized." The result is some of most beautiful color photography in the veteran cameraman’s large body of work.

1977, 117 min., 35mm, color, in Japanese with live English subtitles. Directed by Masahiro Shinoda. Shima Iwashita, Yoshio Harada, Tomoko Naraoka, Tomoko Jinbo.

Winner, 1978 Japan Academy Prize and Mainichi Film Award for Best Cinematography

"If Ballad of Orin were photographed with the usual Japanese competence, it would be worth seeing. The camera of Kazuo Miyagawa raises it higher."

—The New Republic

Part of Kazuo Miyagawa: Japan’s Greatest Cinematographer

Tickets: $13/$10 seniors & students/$9 Japan Society members

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