IMDB Link:






IMDB Rating: 7.7/10



Director: Hiroshi Shimizu



Cast:

Bakudankozo

Masao Hayama

Mitsuko Yoshikawa



Description:

Children in the Wind (Kaze no Naka no Kodomo, 1937) is one of Shimizu’s best known films. Brothe Zenta and Sanpei spend their summer bullying a neighbor boy and arguing about which one of them should bring their father’s daily lunchbox to work. Things change, however, when their father is convicted of forgery and is thrown in jail. Because their mother must now work, Sanpei is sent to stay with his father’s former schoolmaster, but he keeps getting himself into trouble.








IMDB Reviewer:

The best way to describe this film would be "bright". The story is simple, two young boys are usurped from being the head of their gang of children by the son of the man who indicts their father on charges of embezzlement (him being fired and arrested for this.) They're sent to live with their uncle (Takeshi Sakamoto, fast becoming my favorite Japanese actor of this decade) and spend their time thinking of ways to escape back home. Father is found innocent, and they live happily ever after. This film is beautiful, the music and the sound of the children playing are both unforgettable. It was no. 4 in the Kinema Jumpo that year, and it was adapted from a Tsubota novel (his 1939 film Four Seasons of Childhood, which contains the same characte, is also based on a Tsubota book.) The cinematography is "gliding" (a term which consistently seems to be used to describe the look and feel of his films) and more reminiscent of Arigato-San than any other film I've seen by him. There are also some strong similarities in plot and character to Ozu's I Was Born But… and according to Keiko McDonald he, "tells of finding himself in tea as he read in the short story (Naoya Shiga's "Manazuru") about the little children shuffling along a road at night". I watched Children in the Wind without subtitles, but more than any other unsubtitled film I've seen, It was extremely easy to follow along with. One of my favorites from this director, and I can't wait to see more of his children's films.








































File size: 799Mb | Dimensions: 672 x 496

Video: 1167kbps XviD | Audio: 118kb/s mp3

Language: Japanese (English & Japanese .idx subs included)

Running time: 86 minutes