Product Description
Ornamental Hairpin (1941) based on a story by Masuji Ibuse, starring Kinuyo Tanaka and Shu Kasachi. 70 minutes with Japanese / English subtitles. The film is set in a hot spring resort, the film's characters, who are guests at the inn are a microcosm of Japanese society. None of them want to return their life outside of the inn. The heroine of the film is Emi, although why she doesn't want to return to Tokyo is kept ambiguous. The militarism of the time is acknowledged with a wounded soldier. The guests at the hotel become an extended family, the resort offering an escape from political and social pressures. Most of the characters do eventually return with the exception of Emi, the owner of the hairpin.
