Apart from You (1933) User Reviews (7)

Melodrama with art

[simon-1303 · 8/10 · 4 July 2007]

I really enjoyed this straightforward story of two hardworking working girls. Naruse's great camera-work and expressive actors conveys the hard life, physically and emotionally, of working girls and the positive and negative sides of family ties. Never sentimental, carefully chosen scenes brilliantly illustrate an effective if familiar story of decline and fall, or rather fall and decline.

Naruse can be a little claustrophobic and hermetic, even static, but switches of location keep the story fresh and each scene moves the story along.

Relationships are entirely credible and dialogue (intertitles for this silent movie) is dramatic and appropriate.

On a personal note, look out for the ever so cute No. 2 actress Sumiko Mizukubo, the 'Japanese Sylvia Sydney' apparently, on account of 'her small size and the shape of her lips'.

Japanese tearjerker from Shochiku and writer-director Mikio Naruse

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 4 May 2023]

Aging geisha Kikue (Mitsuko Yoshikawa) worries about her teenage son Yoshio (Akio Isono) who lately has been skipping school and hanging out with a gang of petty crooks. Kikue's young co-worker Terugiku (Sumiko Mizukubo) has romantic feelings for Yoshio, but she has to continue working as a geisha in order to support her family, and so that her younger sister won't be forced into the geisha life. Terugiku attempts to set Yoshio back on the straight and narrow, with tragic consequences.

Naruse's penchant for exploring the hardships of working women comes to full focus here, with both Kikue and Terugiku prime examples of women suffering so that others may live better. Mizukubo gives a very good performance, but the brief 1-hour running time doesn't leave enough room to fully explore the older Kikue character. Still, this is a nice, emotional look at pre-WW2 Japanese society.

Silent melodrama has its moments

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 22 October 2023]

This is a quiet little melodrama from Mikio Naruse, but it scores points by taking the perspective of women, and by featuring Sumiko Mizukubo, who's like a ray of sunshine every time she's on the screen. She plays a geisha who seems to be carefree, but whose sad family life is eventually revealed. Meanwhile, her older friend (Mitsuko Yoshikawa) is struggling with getting older and losing the affection of her long time patron, as well as having a rebellious son who's skipping school to run around with the wrong crowd.

Both women are dealing with lazy men behaving badly in their family, and it's the main reason they continue to be geisha. The older woman wants to provide the money for her son's schooling and then stop, while the younger women works because her father claims over copious amounts of sake that "times are tough," and is presumably unemployed. The moment she stands up to him to try to protect her sister from being forced down the same path is probably the film's strongest. There is a sense of strength and perseverance here ("I won't let hardship defeat me") that is also stirring.

I liked the film for all of those reasons, but various issues prevented me from loving it. For one thing, the pacing was a little slow, even over just 60 minutes. Additionally, Naruse's various camera work, including those zoom shots into close-ups, seemed more cartoonish than effective here, and I say that despite having liked how he incorporated them in No Blood Relation (1932). Lastly, the plot connects the older geisha's son with the younger geisha romantically which leads to further melodrama, none of which was very satisfying, except perhaps the ending. All in all, not bad though.

Excellent early Naruse

[kerpan · 10/10 · 19 January 2005]

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS***

Kimi to wakarete / Apart from You (Mikio NARUSE, 1933)

An early masterpiece by Naruse, this tells the story of an aging geisha (Mitsuko Yoshikawa) who struggles to support her senior high school-aged son (?). He, however, is so embarrassed by his mother that he has begun cutting school -- and associating with a bad crowd. A young (late teen-aged?) colleague of his mother (Sumiko Mizukubo -- a lovely girl with huge eyes, who co-starred in Ozu's "Dragnet Girl") also worries about the son, and urges him to not disappoint his mother. In order to show him how lucky he is, she takes him to visit her dysfunctional family. The father is a ne'er-do-well -- and the family is planning to sell their second daughter into prostitution too -- in order to make ends meet. The contrast between the lovely seaside locale and the sordidness of the family is striking. Although the two young people are falling in love, she feels she must go off to a more profitable location in order to make enough money to save her little sister from her blighted fate. Very fine acting -- and some rather striking and extravagant cinematography (Suketaro Inokai -- who also filmed some of Shimizu's best movies). Highly recommended.

Tatami, broken bottle of sake

[chaos-rampant · 4 March 2012]

Here we have a world being displaced, although probably you had to be young or a parent at the time to appreciate the full effect; feudal modern structures that despair, young people who have to pursue life away from their heart. Western mores are everywhere, yo-yos, music records, milk chocolate, but still very slowly displacing the old customs: it just means that the geisha mother on top of her traditionally lecherous clientele will now also have to entertain foreigners with their fancy movie projector.

Resolute girl preaches in the end that we'll have to be strong to make it through. Alright.

Well, this is pretty much the universal experience of life, life sucks and rarely goes your way, it's the stuff of drama, but we have come up with much more sophisticated ways to remind us. Even then, consider how the world was being discovered by the likes of Epstein.

This reminds me of that old anecdote - attributed to Joshu in The Gateless Gate - about a dunce with a lantern in hand looking for a fire in the middle of the night to cook rice with. Had he known what fire was, he would have cooked his rice much sooner.

So we have a lot of unease here from emotional fires but not much clue what fuels them or what they are. The eye is clear, or is thought to be, but the sight is dull. Not a clear eye at all when you think about it.

Supplement to listed credits

[fvonb · 10/10 · 18 November 2005]

Just saw this lovely film in a flawless brand-new 35mm print, Nov. 16, 2005. It is a SILENT film (so soundtrack is mono only if there was originally a synchronized score on the release prints). Viewed was a full-aperture print, with no soundtrack overlay. I clocked it at 73 minutes, although silent film running times can vary depending on the projected speed, but a 1933 film would theoretically have been shot at 24-fps. This is a "comment" not a review. I have nothing more to say to be able to "pad" this out to "ten lines." Who thought up that rule? This is a "comment" not a review. I have nothing more to say to be able to "pad" this out to "ten lines." Who thought up that rule?

Interesting, But Often Told Tale.

[net_orders · 5/10 · 7 May 2016]

Viewed on Streaming. Music = seven (7) stars; restoration =five (5) stars. Director Mikio Naruse delivers a rife on a hoary theme: prostitutes with hearts of gold. This is a slice-of-life story about two depression-era bar girls: one aging with a troubled youth to support at home; the other much younger who is the sole provider for her multi-generational family. There are a number of twists and turns in the photo play to hold (just barely) the viewer's interest including a non-fatal stabbing of the younger prostitute. The Director overdoes zooming closeups for dramatic effect. His actors seem fully capable of evoking more than sufficient dramatic impact without camera trickery. Several actors are members of Naruse's stock company--you have probably seen them before and will likely see them again. The leading actor has been seriously miscast as a juvenile. His days of playing a juvenile lie in the distant past. So do those of all male "juvenile" performers! The younger leading actress delivers an upbeat, dynamic performance which keeps the film mildly interesting and moving right along. Cinematography (narrow screen, black and white) and lighting are fine. Restoration is a work in progress. Images are very good, but wear and aging artifacts often appear (and could have been digitally removed). Compensation for different camera cranking rates has not been provided especially for exterior scenes (like shots of trolleys, trolley tracks, and actors walking/running) which appear unintentionally comical. English inter titles are okay, but inaccurately keep referring to lower-class bar girls and prostitutes as "geisha." (Japanese inter titles are flashed to the point of making them great tests of instant sight reading for those seeking practice!) Trio (but mostly piano) musical accompaniment is good with themes provided for major characters and locations. The films ends rather abruptly, since the open-ended story could go on. (Perhaps the budget ran out?) Unless you are a hard-core fan of the Director, not especially recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.