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When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki

1960

Mikio Naruse

Hideko Takamine, Masayuki Mori, Daisuke Kato, Tatsuya Nakadai ...

7.8

1,134

Drama A successful but aging madam of a Tokyo hostess bar realizes that she will soon have to retire.

	Author	Review
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"A heartbreaking study, to be compared with Mizoguchi's 'Life of Oharu' (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Dave Kehr Chicago Reader	"It's a melodrama of extreme emotional violence (...) but Naruse treats it with such evenness that it becomes microscopically subtle"	POS
United Kingdom	David Parkinson Empire	"Played with an affecting blend of dignity and despair by Hideko Takamine (...) [It] provides a fascinating snapshot of conservative Japanese society (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Keith Uhlich Slant	"A raw, brilliantly sustained final half-hour (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United Kingdom	Anna Smith BBC	"An involving portrait of a strong woman (...) Modern audiences may find the pace slow, but patience will be rewarded (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Jamie Russell Radio Times	"This moving film from director Mikio Naruse ranks among his best (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Trevor Johnston Time Out	"It’s a film which encapsulates the strengths of this masterly Japanese director (...) Fascinating as social study, painstakingly assured as storytelling (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	New York Magazine	"Despite a very direct cinematic style, Naruse’s treatment here is beguilingly poetic, full of natural metaphors and heroic desperation."	POS

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