The Ballad of Narayama

1983 · 130 min · dir. Shohei Imamura

The Ballad of Narayama is a 1983 Japanese film by director Shōhei Imamura. It stars Sumiko Sakamoto as Orin, Ken Ogata, and Shoichi Ozawa. It is an adaptation of the story of the same name by Shichirō Fukazawa, which had previously been adapted for a 1958 film directed by Keisuke Kinoshita. Both films explore the legendary practice of ubasute, in which elderly people were carried to a mountain and abandoned to die. Imamura's film won the Palme d'Or at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. Synopsis from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.