WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS

Noboru Nakamura was born in Japan in 1913. However, only recently, due to the celebration of the centennial of his birthday, his precise and delicate work began to be rediscovered outside Japanese territory, with some of his most important films being restored.

Born in Tokyo, Nakamura frequented the theaters of the Asakusa district from a young age. Right after studying English literature, he began working as an assistant director for Shochiku Studios. Under directors such as Torajiro Saito and Yasujiro Shimazu, he shared a position with future directors including Kozaburo Yoshimura and Keisuke Kinoshita.

Nakamura left his mark with films that captured the complexity of the feminine universe within Japanese cinema as few others did – along with his famous literary adaptations. In 1941, he shot his first feature film, the documentary Life and Rhythm (Seikatsu to Rizumu). The following year, he directed his first narrative feature, The Ideals of Marriage (Kekkon no Riso), and so began a trajectory of dozens of films made during one of the most intensively creative periods of Shochiku Studios.

A contemporary of filmmakers such as Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963) and Kenji Mizoguchi (1898-1956), Nakamura directed 82 films throughout his careers, competed in festivals such as Cannes, Venice and Berlin, aside from being nominated for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award for Twin Sisters of Kyoto (Koto, 1963) and Portrait of Chieko (Chieko-sho, 1967). Nakamura died in 1981, at the age of 68.

The 38th Mostra presents three of his most representative films: Home Sweet Home (Wagaya wa Tanoshi, 1951), When It Rains, It Pours (Doshaburi, 1957) and The Shape of Night (Yoru no Henrin, 1964), all three screened in new copies produced by Shochiku Studios and the Tokyo FILMeX festival.

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA