Lightning: Mikio Naruse

I'm beginning to feel like I've been duped. Lightning marks the seventh film by director Mikio Naruse that I've seen. Lauded by many critics as an under-appreciated master of Japanese cinema, I have done my best to give Naruse the benefit of the doubt and to expose myself to as much of his cinema that I could get my hands on. But I find myself tired of trying. I cannot stand Naruse's films. I've given some of them decent reviews before, but even now I find myself wondering whether or not those films deserve a reassessment. Of course, that would require me to actually go back and re-watch his films, and that seems unthinkable. Lacking Ozu's technique and Mizoguchi's pathos, Naruse's domestic dramas (like Lightning) are flat, tedious affairs that sap the energy from my body. Take Lightning: the film is about a young woman dealing with her squabbling three half-siblings and weak-willed mother. The woman feels trapped in a life going nowhere, not unlike the viewers of this film. Revelations are made and trusts betrayed and broken. One sibling becomes a widow only for her late husband's mistress to come knocking on her door for money. Such a development should have elicited some kind of response from me, but I felt nothing but bland despondency. When the film climaxes with the young woman and her mother arguing to the point of tears while a thunderstorm rages in the background, I didn't feel emotionally fulfilled in the way that a basic story arc should leave me. It was climax without catharsis. I would give the film a lower score, but that would suggest that it was less than mediocre. And, truth be told, the film does have a few decent performances and the cinematography, while flat, is competent enough. Although, the piano soundtrack's constant imitation of the Aquarium movement from Camille Saint-Saëns' The Carnival of the Animals suite is almost enough to tip the scales against the film's favor even further.

6/10