The Makioka Sisters

Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s epic novel from 1943 -  in Japanese the title means Softly Falling Snow - is one of Japan’s defining works about the gradual shift from East to West: The two oldest eponymous sisters uphold the old order, the youngest seems intent on claiming an independent, Western identity, and the fourth is delicately (and almost permanently) caught in the middle. In Kon Ichikawa’s rapturous rendition, however, an often slow-moving novel takes on fresh beauty and becomes a shimmering immersion in textures and cherry-blossom rites alight with a mischievous wit Jane Austen would have savored. Pauline Kael famously greeted its “visual music” and “succession of evanescent revelations” and in its reaction-shots alone, the film catches all the stresses and rift underneath an elegant, lacquered exterior. Indeed, in its delectable pacing and luscious colors, I’m tempted to place this Japanese Pride and Prejudice on that very short list of films even more spirited and stylish than the novel it so faithfully brings to the screen. (Telluride Film Festival)