Repast (film)

Meshi
Japanese theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mikio Naruse
Written by	Yasunari Kawabata Toshirō Ide Sumie Tanaka Fumiko Hayashi (novel)
Starring	Setsuko Hara Ken Uehara Yukiko Shimazaki
Music by	Fumio Hayasaka
Cinematography	Masao Tamai
Distributed by	Toho
Release date(s)	November 23, 1951
Running time	97 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Repast (めし, Meshi^?) is a 1951 film by Mikio Naruse, starring Setsuko Hara. It is set in postwar Osaka and it is about a woman who has moved from Tokyo (her father is a well-known professor) to settle down with her husband. Her salaryman husband ignores her. She is slowly being worn down by domestic drudgery. Matters come to a head when her pretty niece comes to stay and the husband begins to flirt with her. ' Naruse shows brilliantly how the husband and wife cling to respectability by a thread.'^[1] Dissatisfied with his efforts to improve their household life, she returns to Tokyo for a time.

Repast is the first of Naruse's adaptations from the novels by Fumiko Hayashi, a writer who specialised in stories of the downtrodden. "I am moved by the sadness to be found in the simple lives of people..", a quotation included at the beginning of the film, expresses the writer's preoccupations.

Awards and nominations

2nd Blue Ribbon Awards^[2]

• Won: Best Film
• Won: Best Actress - Setsuko Hara
• Won: Best Supproting Actress - Haruko Sugimura
• Won: Best Screenplay - Sumie Tanaka

External links

• Repast at the Internet Movie Database
• Meshi at AllRovi
• (Japanese) Repast at the Japanese Movie Database

References

1. ^ Geoffrey Macnab "Director Mikio Naruse: An overlooked master", The Independent, 29 June 2007
2. ^ "ブルーリボン賞ヒストリー" (in Japanese). Cinema Hochi. http://cinemahochi.yomiuri.co.jp/b_award/1951/. Retrieved 2010-1-17.