Mitasareta seikatsu

With the production of Susumu Hani's second film, the Ninjin Club promoted the work of a central filmmaker of the so-called New Wave, a renewal movement in Japanese cinema that began at the end of the 1950s. In A FULL LIFE, he paints a portrait of the young Junko — played by Ineko Arima in an outstanding way — who leaves an unhappy marriage behind in order to resume her acting career. Her new life is revealed in vignettes: encounters with an old friend, auditions, small jobs, political discussions in the theatre group she joins, demonstrations against the security pact between the USA and Japan. In addition to Arima, the city of Tokyo is the second protagonist of the film, filmed documentarily with a handheld camera, sometimes gloomy, sometimes hopeful, always a reflection of Junko's inner state. (mg)