The inhabitants of an isolated mountain village practice population control by carrying their elders to the top of Mount Narayama to die when they reach 70. Though in robust health and a year shy of her fate, Orin can't wait for her turn at the peak, even knocking out her own teeth to convince her sons she's ready. Unlike Kinoshita's Kabuki-ized film version, Imamura's Ballad of Narayama is a bawdy, corporeal burlesque that wholeheartedly affirms feeding and copulation as the essence of life.