Hideko Takamine

“If there was ever an actress who personified the plight and enterprise of women in post-war Japan, it is undoubtedly Hideoko Takamine. She first burst onto the scene as a child actress, and garnered acclaim for her work in Mikio Naruse’s films. In her frequent collaborations with directors Naruse and Keisuke Kinoshita, Takamine played characters who embodied the spirit of perseverance. Her roles as a school teacher in the post-war Japan period (Twenty-Four Eyes, 1954) and as expat Yukiko (Floating Clouds, 1955) highlight her naturalistic and sensitive style of acting. Such a method easily lends itself to her exploration of roles that are rooted in reality, and often invoke a quality of being suspended in time.

She herself has noted her tendency to play such characters, remar”