The Whole Family Works, Mikio Naruse's adaptation of a Sunao Tokunaga novel, feels more of a piece with the writer/director's quietly observant and psychologically charged later work. For the Naruse-familiar, it is an anomaly only in its placement within his filmography—indeed, this could be a film made by the elder, stasis-minded Naruse momentarily inhabiting, through a metaphysical twist of fate, his stylistically exuberant younger self. Set in depression-era Japan around the time of the Sino-Japanese War (which the director evokes, during a brief dream sequence, by dissolving between children's war games and actual adult warfare), The Whole Family Works gently observes a family coming apart at the seams. Ishimura (Musei Tokugawa) is the jobless father of nine children.
Credits
The Whole Family Works Cast
| Name |
Character |
|
Kinji Fujiwa
|
as Ishimura's fellow worker |
|
Noriko Honma
She was 27, 97 years old when she died
|
as Ishimura's wife |
|
Den Ohinata
He was 31, now 117 years old
|
as Ogawa - the teacher |
|
Susumu Fujita
He was 27, 78 years old when he died
|
as Genji's fellow worker |
The Whole Family Works Crew
| Name |
Department |
|
Mikio Naruse as Director. He was 33 (63) years old when He died
|
Directing |
|
Mikio Naruse as Screenplay. He was 33 (63) years old when He died
|
Writing |
|
Kôichi Iwashita as Editor. |
Editing |
