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Why Not?

6.4 151 mins Drama   1981
Imamura Productions   Shochiku  
Director(s): Shōhei Imamura

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.

Casts of Why Not?

Shigeru Izumiya

as Genji

Kaori Momoi

as Ine

Masao Kusakari

as Itoman

Ken Ogata

as Furukawa

Norihei Miki

as Masuya

Junzaburō Ban

as Toramatsu

Ako

as Oyoshi

Shōhei Hino

as Magoshichi

Shino Ikenami

as Yoshino

Etsuko Ikuta

as Nui

Hiroshi Inuzuka

as Roku

Kazuo Kitamura

as Koide

Nenji Kobayashi

as Matakichi

Yasuaki Kurata

as Hanjiro

Shoichi Ozawa

as Sakunojo

Sanshō Shinsui

as Densuke

Kazuko Shirakawa

as Yamikumo-dayu

Yuko Tanaka

as Omatsu

Minori Terada

as Ijuin

Taiji Tonoyama

as Jyosyuya

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