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Die Sage vom alten Hirten Xeudi und seinem Freund Reiman [The Legend of the Old Shepherd Xeudi and His Friend Reimann] (Hans-Jakob Siber, 1973)
Dec
11
International Mountain Day
The two friends setting off on their track of the Swiss mountains. Their chalet can be seen in the foreground. DP: Hans-Jakob Siber.
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楢山節考 [Narayama-bushi kō / The Ballad of Narayama] (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1958)
Dec
11
International Mountain Day
Tatsuhei (Teiji Takahashi) with his mother Orin (Kinuyo Tanaka) in a bamboo carrier on his back. She's combing his hair. Around them the mountain range. DP: Hiroshi Kusuda.
“This winter… I'm going to the mountain. My mother went to the mountain, as did the mother-in-law of our home. So I have to go too.”
– Orin
In Keisuke Kinoshita's highly stylised 楢山節考, the arguably cruel (and most likely fictional) practice – of 姥捨て [ubasute, abandoning an old woman] – is superbly abstracted. Narration, dramatic lighting, colour filters and very obviously a soundstage underline that what we're watching is not a film, but a kabuki play.
