September at the Trylon

In a national film industry often hostile to women directors, Kinuyo Tanaka, an actress and protegé of Yasujirô Ozu, created a milieu all her own. Deftly crafted stories centered around women, Tanaka’s films are meticulous, empathetic, and eye-opening. Never released in the United States, the Trylon is proud to present these four restorations from Janus Films.

FOREVER A WOMAN
Sunday, September 4–Tuesday, September 6

(1955, DCP, 106m, Japanese w/English subtitles) dir Kinuyo Tanaka w/Yumeji Tsukioka, Ryôji Hayama, Junkichi Orimoto.

Tanaka’s most personal film follows recently divorced Fumiko (Tsukioka), who learns she has late-stage breast cancer. Based on the life of poet Fumiko Nakajo, Forever is touching, inspiring, and masterfully directed.

THE MOON HAS RISEN
Sunday, September 11–Tuesday, September 13

(1955, DCP, 102m, Japanese w/English subtitles) dir Kinuyo Tanaka w/Chishû Ryû, Shûji Sano, Hisako Yamane. Based on a script from Yasujirô Ozu, the gentle comedy Moon tells the tale of widower Mokichi (Ryû) as he navigates the marriages of his daughters in a changing society.

LOVE LETTER
Sunday, September 18–Tuesday, September 20

(1953, DCP, 98m, Japanese w/English subtitles) dir Kinuyo Tanaka w/Masayuki Mori, Yoshiko Kuga, Jûkichi Uno. Five years after the war, lovelorn veteran Mayumi (Mori) translates love letters from Japanese women to American G.I.s. Produced the year the U.S. occupation in Japan ended, Tanaka’s first film dives into the complexities faced by women in the postwar period.

GIRLS OF THE NIGHT
Sunday, September 25–Tuesday, September 27

(1961, DCP, 93m, Japanese w/English subtitles) dir Kinuyo Tanaka w/Hisako Hara, Akemi Kita, Kyôko Kagawa. Kuniko (Hara) is sent to a rehabilitation center for sex workers in the shifting societal landscape of postwar Japan.