Directed by:
Yasuzo MasumuraScreenplay:
Yoshio ShirasakaCinematography:
Michio TakahashiComposer:
Taiichirô KosugiCast:
Ayako Wakao, Kenji Sugawara, Keizô Kawasaki, Jirō Tamiya, Chieko Higashiyama, Kuniko Miyake, ミヤコ蝶々, 叶順子, Sadako Sawamura, Hiroko Machida, Hiroko Yajima (more)Plots(1)
Masumura’s sophomore feature marks his first collaboration with iconic star Ayako Wakao – a legendary partnership that would spawn twenty of the pair’s best films. Wakao plays Yûko, a willful 18-year-old high school student who leaves her small village in search of her estranged cleaning lady mother and her businessman father, who never acknowledged her. As Yûko ventures to find her place in her father’s dysfunctional household, A Cheerful Girl swiftly switches gears from a Sirkian melodrama to a blithe deconstruction of the post-war nuclear family, charged with irony, mischievousness, and utter irreverence for the venerated Japanese family drama. Filmed in gorgeously earthy pastel colors, A Cheerful Girl is one of the most atypical coming-of-age Asian pictures of the 1950s. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)
(more)Cast
Ayako Wakao
Japan
Best movies:
Red Angel (1966)
Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (1970)
A Cheerful Girl (1957)
Kenji Sugawara
Japan
Best movies:
A Cheerful Girl (1957)
Keizô Kawasaki
Japan
Best movies:
A Cheerful Girl (1957)
Jirō Tamiya
Japan
Best movies:
A Cheerful Girl (1957)
The Black Test Car (1962)
Cobra (1976)
Chieko Higashiyama
Japan
Best movies:
Early Summer (1951)
Tokyo Story (1953)
The Life of Oharu (1952)
Kuniko Miyake
Japan
Best movies:
Early Summer (1951)
Early Spring (1956)
Late Autumn (1960)
ミヤコ蝶々
Japan
Best movies:
Samaritan Zatoichi (1968)
A Cheerful Girl (1957)
My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)
叶順子
Japan
Best movies:
A Cheerful Girl (1957)
The Black Test Car (1962)
Sadako Sawamura
Japan
Best movies:
A Fugitive from the Past (1965)
Late Autumn (1960)
Good Morning (1959)
Hiroko Machida
Japan
Best movies:
The Quiet Duel (1949)
A Cheerful Girl (1957)
Street of Shame (1956)
Hiroko Yajima
Japan
Best movies:
A Cheerful Girl (1957)
Yuko Yashio
Best movies:
A Cheerful Girl (1957)
Eiichi Takamura
Japan
Best movies:
A Cheerful Girl (1957)
The Black Test Car (1962)