Apart from You (33) - silent masterpiece -- see my Senses of Cinema article ;~}
Nightly Dreams (33) - silent masterpiece -- at least as good as the above
Wife! Be Like a Rose! (35) -- first Japanese talkie to be shown in the US -- Sadly, US critics brushed it off -- wonderful film
Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts (35) -- very good
The Whole Family Works (39) -- very good
The Song Lantern (43) -- Naruse's closest approach to a "fairy tale" film -- has some of his most visually stunning scenes -- even if it is not a masterpiece, I love it as much as if it were one
Repast (51) -- masterpiece -- in my personal top 2 Setsuko Hara and Ken Uehara are superb (maybe his best performance)
Ginza Cosmetics (51) -- transitional film (made right before Repast) , Naruse hasn't quite got his newer style all together yet -- but very good performances
Mother (52) -- when I first saw this, the opening narration put me off a bit, it was overly sentimental - and colored my view of the whole film. Only later did I really notice just how much humor was blended with the sadness. Wonderful work for Tanaka and Kagawa and Daisuke Kato, especially.
Lightning (52) -- one of my favorite Naruse films -- Hideko Takamine and Kumeko Urabe (playing her mother) are great -- a little more hope here than normal at the end
Husband and Wife (53) -- very good -- a combination of bleakness and humor, following the difficulties of a young couple ---also a glimpse of Japan at Christmas and New Years.
Wife (53) -- darker than average, a rare chance to see the great Mieko Takamine (as jealous wife)
Late Chrysanthemums (54) -- on first viewing I focused on the seeming main character Haruko Sugimura (in one of her most impressive -- if least lovable -- performances). On revisiting, I paid as much attention to her former cronies, who are delights. Part bleak -- but still full of life.
Sound of the Mountain (54) -- masterpiece -- Setsuko Hara is great -- and so is So Yamamura (as her father-in-law). Probably Yamamura's best performance ever.
Floating Clouds (55) -- masterpiece -- some of the best work of Takamine and Masayuki Mori
Flowing (56) -- masterpiece
Summer Clouds (58) -- a bit diffuse, but still quite impressive -- Chikage Awashima is very fine as a city girl who married a farmer -- and although widowed can't escape her ties to the land she (here young son) has inherited.
The Approach of Autumn (60) - a remarkable film focused around two children. If the kids spoke a bit less, it might have been better yet -- but still quite impressive. Probably a partial inspiration for Oguri's "Muddy River".
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (60) -- masterpiece
Her Lonely Lane (62) -- based on autobiography of great writer Fumiko Hayashi, whose stories formed the basis for five other Naruse films. One of Takamine's most extraordinary performances (possibly the fact that Tanaka is her mother here provided some inspiration).
Yearning (64) -- almost like two films, the first half is quite interesting but more mundane -- a family store (largely run by a widowed daughter-in-law, Takamine) is facing dangerous competition from a moder "supermarket". Then this shifts gears into romantic tragedy -- as Takamine's younger brother-in-law escorts her home when returning to her own family (on the other side of Japan). The ending of the film is as visually stunning as Naruse ever got (and that's a pretty high level)
Lots of archived discussions, etc.
here.
(note: because of a weirdness of that site, discussions of several of the films are split between multiple threads)
