“Early Summer”, 1951, Shochiku Eiga / Criterion

Setsuko Hara: Into Silence

She became a film icon during the most chaotic years in Japan’s modern history. And then she walked away.

Film production in Japan began in 1889, growing from “sightseeing films” of different Tokyo districts, to short films of plays, dances, Kabuki, and Sumo wrestling. Newsreels detailing the military’s campaigns at the turn of the century soon…