The Inheritance (1962 film)
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by Norio Nanjo
| The Inheritance | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| からみ合い | |
| Directed by | Masaki Kobayashi |
| Written by | Koichi Inagaki |
| Screenplay by | Koichi Inagaki |
| Based on | The Inheritance by Norio Nanjo |
| Produced by | Masaki Kobayashi Shigeru Wakatsuki |
| Starring | Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiko Kishi |
| Cinematography | Takashi Kawamata |
| Music by | Tōru Takemitsu[1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
The Inheritance (Japanese: からみ合い) is a 1962 Japanese drama film directed by Masaki Kobayashi. The plot centres around a struggle between associates of a dying businessman for his fortune which he intends to leave for his three illegitimate children.[1]
The film was nominated for and won the 1964 BAFTA United Nations Award.[2]
Senzo Kawahara is a wealthy businessman who discovers that he has cancer and only six months to live. He reveals to his associates that he has three missing illegitimate children and tasks them with finding them so that his wealth can be divided equally among the three descendants, while his wife will also receive her legally guaranteed portion. This sets off a struggle of scheming and deception as they attempt to appropriate all the money for themselves.
Reception
Alexander Jacoby considered it to be an "uncharacteristically sardonic film, reminiscent of a Kon Ichikawa or Yasuzo Masumura satire, which exposed the purely commercial values of the selfish rich."[3] Stephen Prince[1] states:
There is no pathos of any kind in The Inheritance. It is a savage film, almost cruel in its unflinching gaze at these monstrous characters, and neither Kawahara nor anyone else transforms their lives, except in one sense only. Yasuko perpetrates a cunning and successful swindle that makes her rich. She exchanges a cramped, single-room apartment that she hates and thinks of as a tomb for wealth and leisure and a life unencumbered by obligations to others. That is the only personal transformation the film allows.
The film received praise from Jacob Siskind in The Montreal Star.[4]
The film was nominated for and won the 1964 BAFTA United Nations Award.[2]