MovieChat Forums > Tôkyô monogatari (1972) Discussion > Anybody else who disliked Noriko?

Anybody else who disliked Noriko?

posted 13 years ago by Zamolxe
9 replies | jump to latest

I've watched the Noriko trilogy this week and even though I understand it's supposed to be 3 different characters, it's really ONE character in slightly different circumstances.

Personally if I had a daughter I'd rather her be too much of a slut than this much of a saint. She's so nice it's just embarassing to see. I'm now convinced that a healthy dose of selfishness is a good thing for anyone.

I'd like to see the actress playing her (Setsuko Hara) in a completely different role, like playing a shrew of a wife.

[–] kerpan 13 years ago

Setsuko Hara's Norikos are not "saints" in any of the three films. All are complex characters, but one has to pay careful attention (and maybe see the films a few times each) to really start understanding the complexity of these characters, (One needs to get past the linguistic and cultural screens that make seeing and hearing clearly harder).

Her most atypical role is probably in Woman of the Typhoon District -- where she plays a sort of femme fatale girlfriend of a smuggling gang boss. She is even scarier as the femme fatale in Kurosawa's adaptation of Dostoevsky's Idiot. She is pretty stubborn in Kurosawa's No Regrets for Our Youth. Her characters in the films she made for Mikio Naruse are a bit different from those she played in Ozu's films -- the one you might like is the sarcastic wife (of a sarcastic husband) in Shuu (Sudden Rain) -- available subbed only in the Internet netherworld (not sure how you might find it)>

MEK

Analyze only when necessary.
fortune cookie, 4-24-2010

[–] Towelie_Towel 13 years ago

I am new to Ozu's career, but what three films are we talking about, here?

[–] kerpan 13 years ago

Late Spring, Early Summer and Tokyo Story. All have Setsuko Hara playing a character named Noriko -- but the films are not related and the characters in each film are distinctly different (in terms of temperament and life experiences and family position).

MEK

Analyze only when necessary.
fortune cookie, 4-24-2010

[–] Towelie_Towel 13 years ago

I see. Thanks.

[–] ObservationBlogger 10 years ago

I want to buy posters of her in this film and pin them all over my wall. She's a doll!

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[–] don-lockwood 10 years ago

I remember being much more impressed by Hara's acting in Equinox Flower and much more moved by that film. I get what they were going for in Tokyo Story, but the film was much too long and slow for such a simple story. It was frustrating how one-dimensional the children were. Obviously Hara is supposed to be the relatable, empathetic one, but she annoyed me uttering all her lines, happy or sad, through a cheshire grin.

[–] zoolzool 9 years ago

she annoyed me uttering all her lines, happy or sad, through a cheshire grin.

What about at the end when she was honest about her loneliness and fears and feelings with the old man, and wasn't smiling. How about when she broke down in tears. Did you like her better then?

"God made man. Then he rested. And on the 8th day, God created George O'Brien."

[–] hafaball-1 9 years ago

I think Noriko killed the mom with poison, and then ended up killing the dad... think about that for awhile o.o

"All I wanted was to eat the chicken that is smarter than other chickens and to absorb its power."

[–] dropkick23 8 years ago

Hmm But she felt dizzy at the the spa tho.