The Ballad of Narayama (1983 film)

The Ballad of Narayama
Poster for Ballad of Narayama (1983)
Directed by	Shōhei Imamura
Written by	Shōhei Imamura
Based on	楢山節考 (Narayama-bushi Kō) by Shichirō Fukazawa
Produced by	Goro Kusakabe Jiro Tomoda
Starring	Ken Ogata Sumiko Sakamoto Takejo Aki Tonpei Hidari Seiji Kurasaki Kaoru Shimamori Ryutaro Tatsumi Junko Takada Nijiko Kiyokawa Mitsuko Baisho
Cinematography	Masao Tochizawa
Edited by	Hajime Okayasu
Music by	Shin’ichirō Ikebe
Distributed by	Toei Co. Ltd. Umbrella Entertainment
Release dates	April 29, 1983 (1983-04-29) (Japan) September 7, 1984 (1984-09-07) (U.S. limited)
Running time	130 min.
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	¥1.79 billion (Japan) 23.7 million tickets (worldwide)

The Ballad of Narayama (楢山節考, Narayama Bushikō) is a 1983 Japanese film by director Shōhei Imamura. It stars Sumiko Sakamoto as Orin, Ken Ogata, and Shoichi Ozawa. It is an adaptation of the book Narayama bushikō by Shichirō Fukazawa^[1] and slightly inspired by the 1958 film directed by Keisuke Kinoshita. Both films explore the legendary practice of ubasute, in which elderly people were carried to a mountain and abandoned to die. Imamura's film won the Palme d'Or at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival.^[2]