Twenty-Four Eyes

『二十四の瞳 』
Niju-shi no Hitomi

Imported 35mm Print. Equally known for her longstanding relationship with director Keisuke Kinoshita as with Mikio Naruse, Hideko Takamine remains eternally bound to her role in the immensely popular 1954 epic Twenty-Four Eyes, Kinoshita’s heralded anti-war masterpiece. Posted to teach in a remote fishing hamlet nestled within the sun-drenched isles of the Inland Sea, schoolteacher Hisako Oishi (Takamine) takes special devotion to her class of first graders, a group of 12 schoolchildren—the titular “twenty-four eyes”—who grow and mature alongside their pacifist teacher in the ensuing two decades, facing hardship, joy and tragedy as Showa’s imperialism and the fervor of wartime patriotism begin to take hold. Kinoshita’s humanist drama is elegant and sprawling, a powerful work that reflects on the darkest period of Japanese history.

Dir. Keisuke Kinoshita, 1954, 156 min., 35mm, b&w, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Hideko Takamine, Shizue Natsukawa, Chishu Ryu.

Print courtesy of The Japan Foundation.

Part of John and Miyoko Davey Classics
Year-round screenings of beloved classics, restorations, and rediscoveries of classic Japanese cinema, offering a new cinematic canon from across the scope of Japanese cinema. Presented with the John and Miyoko Davey Endowment Fund for Classic Japanese Film.

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1954 Shochiku Co., Ltd.

Twenty-Four Eyes is generously supported by The John and Miyoko Davey Endowment Fund for Classic Japanese Film.

Film programs are generously supported by Anime NYC, ORIX Corporation USA, and Yen Press. Endowment support is provided by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund and The John and Miyoko Davey Endowment Fund. Additional season support is provided by Jono Abrams and Elizabeth Linn, Ms. Ayumi Arafune, Darin Arita and Kanako Arita, Mike Audet, Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Catanzaro, The Globus Family, George P. Hirose, Akiko Koide and Shohei Koide, David Toberisky, Joseph Rajaratnam and Dharshini Iolanthe Sivakumaran, Japan Society Film Council, and other Film supporters.

Transportation assistance is provided by Japan Airlines, the official Japanese airline sponsor of Japan Society Film Program. Housing assistance is provided by the Prince Kitano New York, the official hotel sponsor of Japan Society Film Program.

Japan Society arts and culture programs are supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Japan Society’s 120th anniversary initiatives and related programs are generously supported by Champion Sponsor, MUFG Bank, Ltd.; Advocate Sponsor, Mizuho Americas; and Friend Sponsor, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas).