the little house

Although the ‘80s are often dismissed as yielding a rather bland crop of Hollywood movies, what the decade lacked in style in more than made up for in storytelling. Nestled between the edgy indies and the overblown action flicks were a wide variety of quiet period dramas (Driving Miss Daisy, Room with a View, Distant Voices, Still Lives) whose emotional stakes ran just as high as the competition…but were produced on a much smaller cinematic scale.

82 year-old director Yoji Yamada, responsible for more than 82 movies over the course of his career, brings that rare sort of personal yet accessible filmmaking full circle with The Little House (2014), telling the story of a young housemaid, Taki Nunomiya, better known as “Taki Dear” to the Hirai family with whom she’s employed in 1930’s Tokyo. The woman of the house, Tokiko Hirai, is a stylish young wife and mother thankful for the companionship that her work-obsessed husband isn’t willing to provide.

Outside of their red-tiled modern home, the threat of war is an ever more inevitable concern. But inside, the problems are of a much more intimate nature: the arrival of Shoji Itakura, Mr. Hirai’s sensitive and artistic co-worker, who feels an instant attraction to Tokiko and begins a not-so-discreet affair. Taki, fearful of the repercussions should her mistress’ actions be discovered, is torn between using her knowledge to end the relationship…or let true love have its way.

Told through flashback via Taki’s present-day memoirs in a complicated structure that reveals itself in an uncomplicated fashion, The Little House ambitiously attempts to follow the repercussion of this love triangle through multiple generations. But outside of its period setting the film is less sure-footed. Within the comfortably designed set (with wide shots often accomplished by some surprising miniature effects), Yamada and the cast feel much more at home; and the romantic tragedy plays out in a compelling fashion that dwarfs the much larger events happening in the country as a whole.

That narrow storytelling focus is nothing new. But in an age when it’s possible to create anything onscreen, it takes real creative courage to show less rather than more. And The Little House will certainly scratch an itch for those anxious to read between the lines.

While most of Twilight Time’s releases are of the classic variety, this 3000-copy limited edition is one of their rare contemporary titles and should go a long way towards helping the film find an audience outside of film festival attendees. The hi-def image is picture perfect. Extras include an isolated score track and theatrical trailers.