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Where Spring Comes Late

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Where Spring Comes Late
Theatrical release poster
Directed byYoji Yamada
Screenplay byYoji Yamada
Akira Miyazaki
StarringChieko Baisho
Hisashi Igawa
Chishū Ryū
Production
company
Release date
  • October 24, 1970 (1970-10-24)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Where Spring Comes Late (家族, Kazoku) is a 1970 Japanese film directed by Yoji Yamada.[1]

Plot

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The Kazami family live on the island of Iōjima, Nagasaki, where Seiichi Kamazi works in a coal mine. With the coal mine closing, Seiichi decides to move to Hokkaido and become a dairy farmer. The family rides the train between the two islands (a roughly 3,000-mile journey). Along the way, they stop in Fukuyama, where Seiichi's brother Tsutomu lives, Osaka, where they attend Expo '70, and Tokyo. In Tokyo, the family's youngest daughter passes away. Genzō, Seiichi's father, reaches Hokkaido but passes away shortly after. He is buried in a Catholic ceremony. Despite Seiichi's misgivings, Tamiko (his wife) convinces him to stay and forge a new life for themselves.

Cast

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Awards

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25th Mainichi Film Award[2]

Criticism

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Scholar Yoshikuni Igarashi called the film "a declaration of war against the regime of the high-growth economy." He views Seiichi's journey as motivated by his desire to maintain economic independence.[3]

References

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  1. ^ 家族. Kinema Junpo Film Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-10-22.
  2. ^ "Japan-movie" 25 1970年 (in Japanese). japan-movie.net. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
  3. ^ Igarashi, Yoshikuni (2021). Japan, 1972: Visions of Masculinity in an Age of Mass Consumerism. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 88, 91. ISBN 9780231551380.
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