Brimful with brooding psychological torment, Kokoro is vintage Kon Ichikawa (An Actor's Revenge, The Burmese Harp, Tokyo Olympiad). Based on a novel by celebrated Japanese author Natsume Soseki, the director foregrounds its themes of individual isolation and social estrangement, most notably in a central protagonist stricken by existential demons and stranded by changing times.
Why does Nobuchi visit the grave of his old friend Kaji? Why is he so secretive with his wife Shizu? And how does Nobuchi's friendship with the young student Hioki for whom the older man acts as reluctant sensei relate to his time with Kaji? As the Meiji Era draws to a close with the emperor's death and the suicide of General Nogi, a fateful tale of tainted love, failed friendship, and redemptive honour unravels with tragic consequences. Though sometimes overlooked in the director's impressive oeuvre, Ichikawa's profoundly beautiful rendering of Soseki's novel is a considerable work of cinema in its own right.

(http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/5116/kokoroavi000160827.png) (http://img18.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kokoroavi000160827.png)
(http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/9446/kokoroavi000361528.png) (http://img22.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kokoroavi000361528.png)
(http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/8149/kokoroavi001805805.png) (http://img22.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kokoroavi001805805.png)
(http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1025/kokoroavi001995286.png) (http://img12.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kokoroavi001995286.png)
(http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/2662/kokoroavi002869494.png) (http://img12.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kokoroavi002869494.png)
(http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/5048/kokoroavi003707499.png) (http://img27.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kokoroavi003707499.png)
(http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/6440/kokoroavi006005213.png) (http://img27.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kokoroavi006005213.png)