Akitsu Springs
{{short description|1962 film}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Akitsu Springs
| image = Akitsu Springs.jpg
| caption = Original Japanese poster
| director = Yoshishige Yoshida
| producer = Masao Shirai
| writer = {{ubl|Yoshishige Yoshida (screenplay)|Shinji Fujiwara (novel)}}
| starring = {{ubl|Mariko Okada|Hiroyuki Nagato}}
| music = Hikaru Hayashi
| cinematography = Toichiro Narushima
| editing = Yoshi Sugihara
| studio = Shochiku
| distributor = Shochiku
| released = {{Film date|1962|6|15|Japan}}
| country = Japan
| language = Japanese
}}
{{nihongo|Akitsu Springs|秋津温泉 |Akitsu onsen}} is a 1962 Japanese drama film directed by Yoshishige Yoshida, starring Mariko Okada and Hiroyuki Nagato.{{cite web|url=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1962/cl001980.htm |title=秋津温泉 (Akitsu Springs) |website=Japanese Movie Database |language=ja |access-date=8 June 2021}}{{cite web|url=http://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=20744 |title=秋津温泉 (Akitsu Springs) |website=Kinenote |language=ja |access-date=8 June 2021}}
Plot
Shortly before the end of World War II, young soldier Shusaku, ill with tuberculosis, arrives at Akitsu, expecting to die soon. Shinko, daughter of a widow and innkeeper, helps him to recover and invigorates his will to live. They fall in love, and although she is first willing to follow him when he suggests to commit suicide together, they eventually let go of their plan. Shinko muses to marry Shusaku, but her mother intervenes and sends him away. Over a span of 17 years, Shusaku, now married and a father, continues to meet with Shinko, but also has affairs with other women. During their last encounters, she declares that she is now ready to die with him, but Shusaku is reluctant. When he leaves Akitsu again after a visit, Shinko, who has sold her inn and is tired of living, commits suicide alone, later found by the grieving Shusaku.
Cast
- Mariko Okada as Shinko
- Hiroyuki Nagato as Shusaku Kawamoto
- Jūkichi Uno as Kenkichi Matsumiya
- Eijirō Tōno as Priest
- Kei Taguchi
- Asao Koike as Osaki
- Akira Nagoya as Shimamura
- Sō Yamamura as Mikami
- Taiji Tonoyama as Rokusuke
Production
Akitsu Springs was Mariko Okada's 100th film{{cite web|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%A7%8B%E6%B4%A5%E6%B8%A9%E6%B3%89-691685 |title=秋津温泉 (Akitsu Springs) |website=Kotobank |language=ja |access-date=9 June 2021}} and the first under the direction of her future husband Yoshida.{{cite book|last=Jacoby |first=Alexander |date=2008 |title=Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day |location=Berkeley |publisher=Stone Bridge Press |page=363 |isbn=978-1-933330-53-2}}
Awards
- 1962 Kinema Junpo Award for Best Actress for Mariko Okada{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055732/awards |title=Akitsu onsen: Awards |website=Internet Movie Database |access-date=8 June 2021}}
- 1962 Mainichi Film Award for Best Actress for Mariko Okada{{cite web|url=http://www.japan-movie.net/about/history17.html |script-title=ja:切腹 第17回(1962年度)毎日映画コンクール（日本映画大賞）受賞 |publisher=Mainichi Film Awards |language=Japanese |access-date=30 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011060919/http://www.japan-movie.net/about/history17.html |archive-date=11 October 2008 }}
Home media
Akitsu Springs was released on DVD in France in 2008{{cite web|url=https://www.blu-ray.com/dvd/Oeuvres-completes-de-Kiju-Yoshida-Partie-1-Une-nouvelle-vague-DVD/138245/ |title=Oeuvres complètes de Kiju Yoshida - Partie 1 - Une nouvelle vague |website=Bluray.com |access-date=15 July 2023}} and in Japan in 2013{{cite web|url=https://www.shochiku-home-enta.com/c/japanese/DA5576 |title=吉田喜重DVD-BOX第1集 (Yoshishige Yoshida DVD-Box Vol. 1) |website=Shochiku Home Entertainment |language=ja |access-date=15 July 2023}} as part of DVD boxes with collected works by Yoshida.
References
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