{"id":1973,"date":"2006-12-22T17:47:26","date_gmt":"2006-12-23T00:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1973"},"modified":"2021-01-18T20:39:37","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T03:39:37","slug":"muddy-river-1981","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1973","title":{"rendered":"Muddy River (1981)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;There must be lots of people out there who wish now that they&#8217;d died in the war.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Muddy-River-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Muddy-River-Poster-213x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"213\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-22625\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Muddy-River-Poster-213x300.jpg 213w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Muddy-River-Poster-90x128.jpg 90w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Muddy-River-Poster.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 213px) 100vw, 213px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nIn post-WWII Osaka, a young boy (Nobutaka Asahara) befriends the son (Minoru Sakurai) of a riverside prostitute (Mariko Kaga).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Childhood<\/li>\n<li>Class Relations<\/li>\n<li>Coming-of-Age<\/li>\n<li>Friendship<\/li>\n<li>Japanese Films<\/li>\n<li>Prostitutes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nKohei Oguri&#8217;s little-seen debut film (currently unavailable to English-speaking audiences)* remains one of the finest movies ever made about childhood friendship. I rented <em>Muddy River<\/em> as a region-coded DVD with Chinese subtitles, using a computer-generated translation program to help me decipher what the characters were saying. As a result, I inevitably lost much of the nuance of the dialogue, but fortunately, most of the film&#8217;s power lies in wordless interactions, facial expressions, beautiful cinematography, and a haunting film score. Oguri perfectly captures the details of children&#8217;s interactions with each other: the excitement over showing off a trick or inviting a new friend to one&#8217;s home; the illicit thrill of spying on adults as they watch sumo wrestling on television in a bar. But he also skillfully portrays the  harder lessons of childhood, such as witnessing a violent death, or having to stick up for a new friend when everyone else rejects him. Each scene in <em>Muddy River<\/em> carries weight and meaning, but the movie is never overbearing; instead, Oguri simply allows us to witness a kind young boy as he comes of age, while life &#8212; both harsh and exciting &#8212; carries on around him. <\/p>\n<p><strong>* Update:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moviedetective.net\/product_p\/dnka.htm\">This movie now appears to be available on DVD with English subtitles!<\/a> <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A simple yet powerful evocation of a childhood friendship which transcends class<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Muddy-River-Friendship.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Muddy-River-Friendship.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-64349\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Muddy-River-Friendship.jpg 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Muddy-River-Friendship-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Muddy-River-Friendship-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Muddy-River-Friendship-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Excellent use of riverside locales and sets<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Riverfront.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Riverfront.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1967\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Round-cheeked Nobutaka Asahara as Nobuo<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Nobuo2.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Nobuo2.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1968\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Takahiro Tamura and Yumiko Fujita as Nobuo&#8217;s well-meaning parents (seen below in their attempt to make Kiichi and his sister Ginko feel comfortable during dinner)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Dinner.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Dinner.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1969\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Kiichi smiling and doing somersaults to express his delight after Nobuo defends him in front of some neighborhood boys<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Somersault.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Somersault.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1970\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Stunning black-and-white cinematography by Shohei Ando<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Placement.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Placement.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1971\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>A truly heartbreaking ending<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Goodbye.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Goodbye.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1972\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>An appropriately elegiac film score by Kurodo Mori<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes; it&#8217;s a gem. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Foreign Gem<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0082280\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1983\/01\/21\/movies\/the-return-of-muddy-river.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/film\/73588.html\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;There must be lots of people out there who wish now that they&#8217;d died in the war.&#8221; Synopsis: In post-WWII Osaka, a young boy (Nobutaka Asahara) befriends the son (Minoru Sakurai) of a riverside prostitute (Mariko Kaga). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Childhood Class Relations Coming-of-Age Friendship Japanese Films Prostitutes Review: Kohei Oguri&#8217;s little-seen debut film (currently unavailable to English-speaking audiences)* remains one of the finest movies ever made about childhood friendship. I rented Muddy River as a region-coded DVD&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1973\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1973"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64353,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1973\/revisions\/64353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}