The Approach of Autumn

1960 Japanese film

The Approach of Autumn

Directed by| Mikio Naruse
Written by| Ryōzō Kasahara
Produced by| Mikio Naruse
Starring|

* Nobuko Otowa
* Kamatari Fujiwara

Cinematography| Jun Yasumoto
Edited by| Eiji Ooi
Music by| Ichirō Saitō

Production
company

Toho

Distributed by| Toho

Release date

* 1 October 1960 (1960-10-01) (Japan)[1][2]

Running time

| 79 minutes[1][2]
Country| Japan
Language| Japanese

The Approach of Autumn (秋立ちぬ, Aki tachinu), also titled  Autumn Has Already Started, is a 1960 Japanese drama film directed by Mikio Naruse.[1][2][3]

## Plot[edit]

After the death of his father, Hideo and his mother Shigeko leave Ueda, Nagano, for Tokyo, where she starts a job at a ryokan, while Hideo moves in with his uncle's family. He befriends the slightly younger Junko, the daughter of Shigeko's employer Naoyo, herself the mistress of a married businessman who finances the ryokan. The two children start making repeated trips around the city together, which finally lead them to the ocean that Hideo only knows from pictures. Hideo is eventually left alone when his mother runs off with a guest and Junko moves away after her father sold her mother's business.

## Cast[edit]

* Kenzaburō Ōsawa as Hideo
* Nobuko Otowa as Shigeko, Hideo's mother
* Kamatari Fujiwara as Hideo's uncle
* Natsuko Kahara as Hideo's aunt
* Yosuke Natsuki as Shotaro
* Futaba Ichiki as Junko (credited as Futaba Hitotsugi)
* Murasaki Fujima as Naoyo, Junko's mother
* Daisuke Katō as Tomioka
* Hisako Hara as Harue
* Seizaburō Kawazu as Kasao
* Kin Sugai as ryokan maid

## Reception[edit]

In his 2008 Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors, film historian Alexander Jacoby called The Approach of Autumn a "precise, clear‒eyed story of a child's emotional life, with something of the bittersweet quality of [Hiroshi] Shimizu".[4]

## Legacy[edit]

The Approach of Autumn was screened at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in 2006.[5]

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c "秋立ちぬ (The Approach of Autumn)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
2. ^ a b c "秋立ちぬ (The Approach of Autumn)" (in Japanese). Kinema Junpo. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
3. ^ "没後50年 成瀬巳喜男の世界映画祭 (The World of Mikio Naruse 50 Years After His Death) Mikio Naruse Film Festival" (in Japanese). Shogakukan 神保町シアター (Jinbōchō Theater). Retrieved 25 March 2021.
4. ^ Jacoby, Alexander (2008). Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-53-2.
5. ^ "The Approach of Autumn". BAMPFA. Retrieved 19 July 2023.

## External links[edit]

* The Approach of Autumn at IMDb
* Uhlich, Keith (28 October 2005). "Review: The Approach of Autumn". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
* Thrift, Matthew (20 August 2015). "Mikio Naruse: 10 essential films". British Film Institute. Retrieved 19 July 2023.

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Mikio Naruse

* Flunky, Work Hard! (1931)
* No Blood Relation (1932)
* Apart from You (1933)
* Every-Night Dreams (1933)
* Street Without End (1934)
* Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts (1935)
* Wife! Be Like a Rose! (1935)
* The Girl in the Rumor (1935)
* Morning's Tree-Lined Street (1936)
* Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro (1938)
* The Whole Family Works (1939)
* Sincerity (1939)
* Travelling Actors (1940)
* Hideko the Bus Conductor (1941)
* The Song Lantern (1943)
* Conduct Report on Professor Ishinaka (1950)
* Battle of Roses (1950)
* Ginza Cosmetics (1951)
* Dancing Girl (1951)
* Repast (1951)
* Mother (1952)
* Lightning (1952)
* Husband and Wife (1953)
* Wife (1953)
* Older Brother, Younger Sister (1953)
* Sound of the Mountain (1954)
* Late Chrysanthemums (1954)
* Floating Clouds (1955)
* Sudden Rain (1956)
* A Wife's Heart (1956)
* Flowing (1956)
* Untamed (1957)
* Anzukko (1958)
* Summer Clouds (1958)
* When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
* Daughters, Wives and a Mother (1960)
* The Approach of Autumn (1960)
* As a Wife, As a Woman (1961)
* A Wanderer's Notebook (1962)
* Yearning (1964)
* The Stranger Within a Woman (1966)
* Scattered Clouds (1967)

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template