The Ballad of Narayama (1983 film)
| The Ballad of Narayama | |
|---|---|
Poster for Ballad of Narayama (1983) | |
| Directed by | Shōhei Imamura |
| Written by | Shōhei Imamura |
| Based on | 楢山節考 (Narayama-bushi Kō) by Shichirō Fukazawa |
| Produced by | Goro Kusakabe Jiro Tomoda |
| Starring | Ken Ogata Sumiko Sakamoto Takejo Aki Tonpei Hidari Seiji Kurasaki Kaoru Shimamori Ryutaro Tatsumi Junko Takada Nijiko Kiyokawa Mitsuko Baisho |
| Cinematography | Masao Tochizawa |
| Edited by | Hajime Okayasu |
| Music by | Shin’ichirō Ikebe |
| Distributed by | Toei Co. Ltd. Umbrella Entertainment |
Release dates |
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Running time | 130 min. |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Box office | ¥1.79 billion (Japan) 23.7 million tickets (worldwide) |
The Ballad of Narayama (楢山節考, Narayama Bushikō) is a 1983 Japanese film by director Shōhei Imamura. It stars Sumiko Sakamoto as Orin, Ken Ogata, and Shoichi Ozawa. It is an adaptation of the book Narayama bushikō by Shichirō Fukazawa and slightly inspired by the 1958 film directed by Keisuke Kinoshita. Both films explore the legendary practice of ubasute, in which elderly people were carried to a mountain and abandoned to die. Imamura's film won the Palme d'Or at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival.