Award winning weepie - Kura

Released in 1995, Kura is a powerful story of a woman who, while slowly losing her sight, fights to continue to run the family business, a sake brewery. Sae Isshiki, in an award winning performance, plays Retsu, the daughter of a hard headed but well meaning man who has managed a successful business of brewing sake. The proceess is shown in some detail, from the sterilizing of the wooden tubs to the fermenting of the rice, to the chilling of the tubs snow to maintain temperature control. It is run by several dozen men who are all experts in sake manufacturing. Retsu's mother dies while she was young, leaving her aunt to take care of her, while her father kept things going. Retsu's failing vision prevents her from going to school, mostly because of her own fears of inadequacy, and so she is home schooled. Retsu would like to learn the business, but her father refuses, giving the excuse that women are "impure" -- sake being a spiritually pure substance. Her father remarries, a young inexperienced geisha with a silly laugh. They have a son, which pleases him to no end, as his family line can now continue. But Retsu and her aunt feel like they are being pushed aside. The son dies in a terrible accident at home, devestating the father. And on top of everything else, the business is not doing so well -- it is the 1930's, and the war has its effect on business. Retsu is determined to make something of herself, having spent much of her lifetime being told that she can't do this or that, because of her condition and her sex. She rounds up the best saki making people she can find, some former workers who had moved on and some who were considered the best in the business. One of the men was a childhood friend of Retsu, who has now grown to be a handsome young man. As production begins Retsu moves closer and closer to total blindness. They make some of the best sake that any of them has ever tasted. Retsu goes blind as the business shuts down for the season, and in a dramatic finale, she stumbles across the forest to a sea town where the young man lives. She almost dies in the blizzard on the way, but is saved by her mother's spirit. She is brought to his place and she declares her love to him, but he is afraid to reciprocate -- they are from different classes, and he did not want to incur her father's wrath. But Retsu's father has come around to seeing things -- after his second wife's separation, he has become humbled by life's agonies, and wants only for his daughter to be happy, and gives his consent. The film abruptly ends with the father and the aunt declaring to live the rest of their lives together at a small farm.

Kura was nominated for eleven Japanese Academy Awards, winning three - best actress, best newcomer, and best producer. I think the slight wishy washy resolution of the film -- which becomes focused on Retsu's struggle to survive in the forest, to win her man's love (even though he barely appears in most of the film) might have prevented from it winning more awards. The acting is superb, and you feel for her and her family as they encounter one setback after another. And at its best, Kura has qualities not unlike a film made by Ozu -- a story about family, and the dynamics that propel the story. A very good film and recommended!