The centerpiece of Naruse Mikio's under-appreciated penultimate film Hit and Run is the car accident, a symbol of modernization gone awry and an event of exceptional frequency in his early films. Filtered through the class-conscious cynicism of his final run, Naruse's return to the car accident recasts the car as a man-made weapon of class warfare. After a car kills her only son, widow Kuniko (Takamine Hideko) vows to avenge his death by killing the driver: a wealthy housewife named Kinuko (Tsukasa Yoko). But although she daydreams about murder throughout the day, Kuniko struggles to set aside her compassion for human life—a differentiating factor between herself and the ruthless upper class. – Kelley Dong