Release Date

June, 3rd, 1995

Running Time

112 min

Genre

Feature

Color

Color

Screening Format

-

Screen Size

Vista

Sound Processing

-

[ Directed by ]

• SHINDO Kaneto

[ Produced by ]

• SHINDO Jiro
• MIZOKAMI Kiyoshi
• IBATA Yasuo

[ Cast ]

• SUGIMURA Haruko ── MORIMOTO Yoko
• OTOWA Nobuko ── YANAGAWA Toyoko
• ASAGIRI Kyoko ── USHIKUNI Tomie

[ Staff ]

• SHINDO Kaneto ── Story
• SHINDO Kaneto ── Script
• MIYAKE Yoshiyuki ── Cinematography
• SHIGETA Shigemori ── Art Director
• HAYASHI Hikaru ── Music

[ Production Company ]

KINDAI EIGA KYOKAI

[ Distributor (Japan) ]

KINDAI EIGA KYOKAI

[ Story ]

Like many works of the director's later period, A Last Note grapples with the theme of aging. It focuses on famed (fictional) actor Yoko, whose retreat to her rural summer residence is interrupted by a visit from Tomie, an old friend and former actor suffering from dementia. When Toyoko, Yoko's housemaid, reveals a startling secret, it sets in motion a series of events that leads to the women's lives intersecting in a variety of ways. Loosely adapted from Chekhov's play The Seagull, the film employs a lightness of touch to question what it means to live and grow old; it also marked the last on-screen appearance of actor OTOWA Nobuko (Shindo's wife), who was diagnosed with cancer prior to the film's production. A major hit upon its release in Japan, A Last Note was later adapted into a stage play, also directed by Shindo.

Written by HOSHI Ryotaro
Translated by Adam Sutherland

[ Film Festivals, Awards ]

1995 Moscow Film Festival, Russia film reviewer Jury Prize

[ Contact (International) ]

KINDAI EIGA KYOKAI CO., LTD.
4F, Katagiri Bldg., 2-36-2 Kanda-Jimbocho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0051
Rep: SHINDO Jiro
tel: +81-3-6261-3101
fax: +81-3-6261-3102
E-mail: kindai@kindaieikyo.com
http://www.kindaieikyo.com