The River Fuefuki

The River Fuefuki was Kinoshita's second adaptation of a literary work by Shichirō Fukazawa, following The Ballad of Narayama, released 2 years earlier.

Opinions of critics and film historians regarding The River Fuefuki are mixed. Alexander Jacoby detected a "simple pacifism" in its anti-war theme, lacking an investigation of the causes, a fact which Jacoby already found evident in earlier films by Kinoshita.^[2] Donald Richie, calling The River Fuefuki the director's last important film, considered its antitraditionalism to be mere appearance, as it "rejects only the worst of traditional life", but approves of the rest, the institution of the family in particular.^[3] Marcus Stiglegger viewed it as a unique pessimistic version of the samurai myth, in contrast to Akira Kurosawa's epic samurai films of the time, and one of Kinoshita's most experimental and spectacular films.^[4]

Reviewers also commented on the techniques Kinoshita incorporated into the film, one being the addition of colour to the monochromatic images, an effect which Jacoby called "somewhat schematic".^[2] According to Richie, the use of colour imitates Japanese woodblock prints and emphasises the film's theatricality.^[3] Additionally, Kinoshita inserted still photographs, particularly during battle scenes, which "both halt and hold the action" (Richie), resembling kamishibai theater.^[3] Stiglegger compared the freezing of images with the rigidity of a social system which had exhausted itself in its traditions.^[4]

• The River Fuefuki at IMDb
• The River Fuefuki at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)
• "笛吹川 (The River Fuefuki)". Shochiku Cinema Classics (in Japanese). Retrieved 15 February 2021.