Souls on the Road
Minoru Murata / JP, 1921 / 112 min.
‘A milestone’, is how film historian Mark Cousins describes this classic of early Japanese cinema. Souls on the Road is the oldest production by the Shochiku film studio still known to exist, and mixes the aesthetics of the western avant-garde with Japanese traditions.
In the depths of winter, on Christmas Eve, the unsuccessful violinist Koichiro tramps through the snow to his village of birth with his wife and child. There he knocks on his father’s door. His dad opens up, but rejects his son once more.
With live musical accompaniment by Rani Kumar (viola) Annie Tångberg (cello), Erik Winkelmann (contrabass) and Martin de Ruiter (bandoneón).
Details
Director
Minoru Murata
Production year
1921
Country
JP
Original title
Souls on the Road
Length
112 min.
Subtitles
ENG
Format
35mm
Part of
Shochiku 100
Yasujiro Ozu, Masaki Kobayashi, Takeshi Kitano: the masters of Japanese cinema. But did you know that their work was made possible by Shochiku? In 2022 Eye is marking over one hundred years of one of Japan’s oldest, and largest, film companies.
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