Shōhei Imamura
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Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)
Directed by Kim Ki-duk
influenced by The Ballad of Narayama (1983)
Themes
Shohei Imamura's The Ballad of Narayama, a certain influence on some of the symbology in Spring, Summer..., is also a denser and more daring meditation on some of the same themes, though the more explicitly religious valences of Spring, Summer... help give it a unique aura.
In addition to casting the three lead female parts with Chinese rather than Japanese actresses, one of Japan's most elegant actors, Kôji Yakusho ("Shall We Dance?," "The Eel," "Cure"), has been given the part of the disfigured, bearish Nobu, while the romantic lead is played by Ken Watanabe ("The Last Samurai," "Batman Begins"), an actor with more American name recognition.
Obviously, the isolated commune in Midsommar is a pagan community, and a shocking The Ballad of Narayama styled dispatch of its elders is explained in a placating way for its anthropological observers.