Four Seasons of Children: Spring/Summer

『子供の四季・春夏の巻』

Dir. Hiroshi Shimizu. 1939, 70 mins. 35mm print courtesy of the National Film Archive of Japan. In Japanese with live English subtitles. With Reikichi Kawamura, Mitsuko Yoshikawa, Masao Hayama, Jun Yokoyama, Takeshi Sakamoto, Fumiko Okamura. Singled out by several Shimizu scholars as a masterpiece, the two-volume sequel to Children in the Wind portrays the ongoing trials of boys Zenta and Sanpei as their family once again falls on hard times, while expanding the temporal scope of the earlier film from one summer to a full year. Anticipating both Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy and Hou Hsiao-hsien’s 1980s films of youth, Shimizu’s film delicately establishes visual motifs that dovetail the narrative’s dramatic turns and gradually attain poetic significance, achieving a timeless storybook quality. This first volume, titled Spring/Summer, details the events surrounding the grave illness of the boys’ father. 

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). There is a $1.50 transaction fee per ticket for all online purchases. The cost of admission may be applied toward a same-day purchase of a membership. 

Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. 

See Four Seasons of Children Volumes 1 and 2 together as a combo ticket.