01
Intentions of Murder
Why this pick
Imamura again follows a working-class woman with fierce, unsentimental attention, blending social pressure, sexual power struggles and darkly comic resilience.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE1963 2h 3m JPN
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
The Insect Woman
Drama
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved The Insect Woman, try these.
01
02
Pigs and Battleships
Why this pick
Its raw, crowded portrait of postwar Yokosuka shares The Insect Woman’s appetite for society at its most compromised, with restless energy and mordant humor.
03
The Pornographers
Why this pick
A caustic, earthy study of marginal lives and improvised survival, driven by Imamura’s fascination with desire, hypocrisy and economic desperation.
04
Black Rain
Why this pick
A more restrained Imamura drama, but equally attentive to how historical catastrophe marks ordinary lives, especially women navigating stigma and endurance.
05
The Ballad of Narayama
Why this pick
Its harsh rural world and blunt physicality extend Imamura’s anthropological eye, confronting survival, custom and human instinct without sentimentality.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
Our curator needs a little longer. Please come back shortly.
No confident matches yet. Try our personal film finder.
01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
A woman, Tome, (Sachiko Hidari) is born to a lower-class family in Japan in 1918. The film is a metaphor for life in Japan through the middle twentieth century, including World War II. The title refers to an insect, repeating its mistakes, as in an infinite circle. Imamura, with this metaphor, introduces the life of Tome, who keeps trying to change her poor life.
Showing saved details. Some information may be out of date.
02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Hiroyuki Nagato
Matsunami