Metrograph

Naruse’s most complex film assembles an historic ensemble of iconic Japanese actresses to depict the postwar decline of Tsuta House, a once esteemed geisha establishment in Tokyo’s old pleasure quarters. Unfolding under the watchful eyes of Tsuta’s faithful new maid Oharu (Kinuyo Tanaka), the intricate drama centers on proud madam Otsuta (Isuzu Yamada) and her ambivalent daughter Katsuyo (Hideko Takamine), whose dubious accounting is catching up with them as the house’s business recedes and its stable of geisha, including the aging Someka (Haruko Sugimura) and the sassy, “new-style” Nanako (Mariko Okada), grows discontent. A rare Japanese film to treat the archaic geisha world with authenticity and restraint rather than prurience and histrionics, Flowing is an understated masterwork of perfectly balanced narrative proportions and finely etched behavioral details, calmly gathering force toward its devastating conclusion.