The Makioka Sisters The Men of Tohoku

Our Kon Ichikawa retrospective concludes with The Makioka Sisters, the director's most popular film in the West, and The Men of Tohoku, described by one critic as "one of the most bizarre films in the entire history of cinema."

Ichikawa's most popular film in the West, The Makioka Sisters is the Chekovian saga of a shipbuilder's family trying to marry off one of four sisters on the eve of World War II. The family's privilege allows them to dwell on cherry blossoms and brocade kimonos while ignoring the warnings of cataclysm all around them. (1983; 140 mins.)

"Superlatively weird and grotesque...one of the most bizarre films in the entire history of cinema."--Max Tessier, Japanese cinema authority

The Men of Tohoku is a ribald tale of a tribal family in which only the eldest son can take a wife; the others must swear off sex and shaving and dress only in rags. When a woman is bound by her husband's will to have sex with all "the younger brothers," the results are outrageous, even by Ichikawa's standards. (1957; 59 mins.)