Film

Eijanaika

1981 · 2h 31m · Drama

IMDb

6.8

The film depicts carnivalesque atmosphere summed up by the cry "Ei ja nai ka" ("Why not?") in Japan in 1867 and 1868 in the days leading to the Meiji Restoration. It examines the effects of the political and social upheaval of the time, and culminates in a revelrous march on the Tokyo Imperial Palace, which turns into a massacre. Characteristically, Imamura focuses not on the leaders of the country, but on characters in the lower classes and on the fringes of society.

Shigeru Izumiya

Genji

Kaori Momoi

Ine

Masao Kusakari

Itoman

Ken Ogata

Furukawa

Norihei Miki

Masuya

Junzaburō Ban

Toramatsu

Mitsuko Baisho

Oko

Shigeru Tsuyuguchi

Kinzo

Ако

Oyoshi

Shōhei Hino

Magoshichi

Shino Ikenami

Yoshino

Etsuko Ikuta

Nui

Hiroshi Inuzuka

Roku

Chōichirō Kawarasaki

Nakazawa

Kazuo Kitamura

Koide

Nenji Kobayashi

Matakichi

• Shōhei ImamuraDirector · Producer · Screenplay
• Ken MiyamotoScreenplay
• Shoichi OzawaProducer
• Jirô TomodaProducer
• Shigemi SugisakiProducer
• Shinsaku HimedaDirector of Photography
• Shinichiro IkebeOriginal Music Composer
• Keiichi UraokaEditor

Why Not (1981) // Bande-annonce (VO)

Release date

January 8, 1981

Status

Released

Original language

Japanese

Runtime

2h 31m

Genres

Drama

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