History of Postwar Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess

A screening of History of Postwar Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess, a documentary in which Madame Onboro recounts her life in bar lounge conversations with filmmaker Shōhei Imamura, who acts as an inquisitive interviewer. Her story is told mostly orally, juxtaposed and paralleled with the grand events and movements of Japanese society in the postwar years, accompanied at times by newsreel reportage. She guides viewers through raising children, running a business and searching for a suitable partner. As compelling as Imamura's best fictional portraits, the film shows his love for honest, unconventional and often unruly characters.