The River with No Bridge

The River with No Bridge
DVD cover
Directed byYōichi Higashi
Written by
  • Kim Soo-kil
  • Yōichi Higashi
Based onThe River with No Bridge
by Sue Sumii
Produced by
  • Tetsujirō Yamagami
  • Kazunobu Yamaguchi
Starring
CinematographyKoichi Kawakami
Edited byOsamu Inoue
Music byErnesto Cavour
Production
company
Seiyu Company Ltd.
Distributed byToho
Release date
  • May 23, 1992 (1992-05-23) (Japan)
Running time
142 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Box office¥1.2 billion[1]

The River with No Bridge (Japanese: 橋のない川, Hepburn: Hashi no nai Kawa) is a 1992 Japanese drama film co-written and directed by Yōichi Higashi, based on the novel of the same name by Sue Sumii. It is the second film adaptation of the novel and stars Naoko Otani, Tamao Nakamura, Tetta Sugimoto and Atsuro Watabe. Toho released the film on May 23, 1992, in Japan, where it was a financial success.[1]

Premise

In the early 20th century, widow Fute (Naoko Otani), her mother Nui (Tamao Nakamura) and her two sons, Seitaro (Tetta Sugimoto) and Koji (Atsuro Watabe), live in the rural town of Komori. Their family belongs to the Burakumin, a marginalized group confined to the area. The story unfolds over several years, from 1908 to 1924. Through the course of their childhood, the boys are continuously tormented by their teachers and classmates as a result of their heritage. However, with the support of their mother and grandmother, they survive and grow into teenagers. As they grow older, their paths slowly diverge. Against the backdrop of the 1918 rice riots in Osaka, Seitaro meets fellow Burakumin Asako (Hiroko Nakajima) and falls in love. Meanwhile, Koji and the townspeople create Suiheisha, an organization dedicated to ending discrimination against their people.

Cast

Background

Sue Sumii's novel, a story about anti-Burakumin discrimination, was originally serialized in seven parts. It was first published in Buraku, the magazine of the Buraku Mondai Kenkyusho, or Buraku Studies Research Institute. After its success, it was published in hardcover by Shinchosha in 1961. All seven parts were ultimately published by Shinchosha, with the final installment released in 1993. Shinchosha later collected them into a single volume. At the time of her death, Sumii was working on an eighth installment in the series.[2] In total, the series has sold over eight million copies in its home country. An English translated version was published in 1990[2][3] (translated by Susan Wilkinson).[3]

A previous two-part film adaptation (River Without a Bridge and River Without a Bridge Part 2) was directed by Tadashi Imai and released from 1969 to 1970.

Director Higashi was asked by the Buraku Liberation League to direct the 1992 adaptation.[4]

Awards and nominations

17th Hochi Film Award[5]

47th Mainichi Film Awards

5th Nikkan Sports Film Awards

References

  1. ^ a b Kinema Junpo Best Ten 85 Complete History 1924-2011. Kinema Junposha. 2012. p. 514.
  2. ^ a b James Kirkup (22 June 1997). "Obituary: Sue Sumii". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "River with No Bridge". www.isbnsearch.org. Retrieved 4 February 2026.
  4. ^ Nadamoto, Masahisa (April 1993). "Was it right to block the screening of the movie 'River Without a Bridge'? – Report of the 9th National Exchange Conference on Buraku Issues". Secretariat of the National Exchange Association on Tribal Issues.
  5. ^ 報知映画賞ヒストリー (in Japanese). Cinema Hochi. Archived from the original on 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2010-01-11.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.