For its first act, the ominously titled Street Without End paradoxically suggests something closer to an idyll as it establishes its youthful characters navigating promising early careers in the big city. Sugiko (Shinobu Setsuko), the film’s protagonist, bounces between a waitress job and a blossoming love affair with the young Harada (Yuki Ichiro), then even flirts with a stint in the movies when approached by an admiring producer (Ryu Chishu). But all that promise deflates when Sugiko is hit by a passing driver who happens to be the well-heeled, compassionate and single Hiroshi (Yamanouchi Hikaru). This scion of immense family fortune nurses her back to health and eventually woos her, at which point the film plunges into melodrama, with Sugiko’s new domestic arrangement portending a life of class resentment and deep unhappiness. Naruse’s final silent film minimizes the expressionist fervor of his early work in favor of a chilling poise and an emphasis on foreboding negative space. – Carson Lund

Live musical accompaniment by Robert Humphreville. Introduction by Okajima Hisashi, NFAJ Director.