The Insect Woman

The Insect Woman
Directed by	Shohei Imamura
Written by	Keiji Hasebe, Shohei Imamura
Starring	Emiko Aizawa, Masumi Harukawa, Sachiko Hidari
Music by	Toshiro Mayuzumi
Edited by	Matsuo Tanji
Distributed by	Nikkatsu
Release date	November 16, 1963 (1963-11-16)
Running time	123 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

The Insect Woman (にっぽん昆虫記, Nippon konchūki) is a 1963 Japanese film directed by Shohei Imamura. It was entered into the 14th Berlin International Film Festival where Sachiko Hidari won the Silver Bear for Best Actress award.^[1]

Plot

A woman, Tome, (Sachiko Hidari) is born to a lower-class family in Japan in 1918. The film is a metaphor for life in Japan through the middle twentieth century, including World War II. The title refers to an insect, repeating its mistakes, as in an infinite circle. Imamura, with this metaphor, introduces the life of Tome, who keeps trying to change her poor life.

Cast

• Emiko Aizawa – Rui
• Masumi Harukawa – Midori
• Sachiko Hidari – Tome Matsuki
• Emiko Higashi – Kane
• Daizaburo Hirata – Kamibayashi
• Seizaburo Kawazu – Karasawa
• Teruko Kishi – Rin
• Tanie Kitabayashi – Madam
• Kazuo Kitamura – Chuji
• Asao Koike – Sawakichi
• Masakazu Kuwayama – Owagawa En's Lover
• Hiroyuki Nagato – Matsunami
• Shoichi Ozawa – Ken
• Sumie Sasaki – En
• Taiji Tonoyama – Foreman
• Shigeru Tsuyuguchi – Honda
• Jitsuko Yoshimura – Nobuko

References

External links

• Nippon konchuki on IMDb
• "にっぽん昆虫記 (Nippon konchuki)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-07-16.