The great Hideko Takamine stars as Miss Oishi, a rural schoolteacher who, as was apparently customary at the time, teaches the same twelve students (the twenty-four “eyes” of the title) from elementary school through high school and thus forms poignant lifelong bonds with them. Sentimental without being melodramatic, Keisuke Kinoshita’s film begins with the teacher’s first assignment in the late 1920s and ends with her as a war widow about twenty years later. In between, he depicts Miss Oishi as a paragon of virtue, both compassionate and dedicated to her job, which stands in ironic counterpoint to the offscreen, subtextual horrors of the Second World War. The whole enterprise is deeply moving thanks to Takamine’s radiant performance, Kinoshita’s graceful direction and the recurring use of the Scottish folk tune “Annie Laurie” on the soundtrack.

More post-war Japanese cinema classics reviewed on my blog here: whitecitycinema.com/2012/04/02/a-post-war-japanese-cinema-primer/

And no shortage of tears. Twenty years in the life of a young schoolteacher and the twelve students who make up her first class, taking in poverty, war, illness and death along the way. It tugs shamelessly at the heartstrings but does it in such a charming and heartfelt way that you can't help being swept up and carried along by it.

There is a LOT of crying though.

Hideko Takamine is pretty flawless in this. She really gives off a kindness and heart that made me wish I had a teacher like her. It does get extremely depressing and I would not doubt if it was too much for some people. Even with this, when there are the lighthearted moments sprinkled in between the depressing scenes, it just makes the moments more special and meaningful.

Apartment (Lawrence, KS) PC-23" Screen - Criterion rip

Staggering picture that traverses over twenty years the lives of a school teacher and her first class. The movement from early Showa to just past the end of World War II is a subtle exploration of the impact politics and war have on common people far from the central locus of power.

The closeups of the school children at each section is heart breaking to say the least. While they have grown-up they are in many ways the same earnest people we meet at the pictures outset.

A marvelous picture that no amount of platitudes can do justice.

Visually stunning drama about the fragility of life, following a class of young children and their teacher from 1928, into adulthood and through WW2. One of the great Japanese films of the 1950's.

Set on a small island, this Japanese classic tells a story spanning nearly twenty years and details a school teacher whose fortunes and experiences seem entwined with that of Japan as a whole. She rides a bike, is open minded, somewhat sceptical of the emperor's omniscience, watches her students grow older, go off to war and not return. Produced in post-war, post-occupation Japan, there's a clear sense of a nation facing up to it's recent demons and embracing its future.

Which is not to say that I particularly liked it. Despite the skill of the director this is the kind of 'worthy', sentimental effort that doesn't particularly appeal to me. There's a least a solid hour of crying sandwiched into it's 156 minute running time, and while I appreciate the point it's making, I ran out of sympathy long before the end.

The great Hideko Takamine stars as Miss Oishi, a rural schoolteacher who, as was apparently customary at the time, teaches the same twelve students (the twenty-four “eyes” of the title) from elementary school through high school and thus forms poignant lifelong bonds with them. Sentimental without being melodramatic, Keisuke Kinoshita’s film begins with the teacher’s first assignment in the late 1920s and ends with her as a war widow about twenty years later. In between, he depicts Miss Oishi as a paragon of virtue, both compassionate and dedicated to her job, which stands in ironic counterpoint to the offscreen, subtextual horrors of the Second World War. The whole enterprise is deeply moving thanks to Takamine’s radiant performance, Kinoshita’s graceful direction and the recurring use of the Scottish folk tune “Annie Laurie” on the soundtrack.

More post-war Japanese cinema classics reviewed on my blog here: whitecitycinema.com/2012/04/02/a-post-war-japanese-cinema-primer/

And no shortage of tears. Twenty years in the life of a young schoolteacher and the twelve students who make up her first class, taking in poverty, war, illness and death along the way. It tugs shamelessly at the heartstrings but does it in such a charming and heartfelt way that you can't help being swept up and carried along by it.

There is a LOT of crying though.