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Catalog/Drama/Why Not?
Why Not? poster
B
Strong
MASTER SCORE 63.3 / 100
1981·Drama / History·2h 31m

WHY NOT?

The film depicts carnivalesque atmosphere summed up by the cry "Ei ja nai ka" ("Why not?") in Japan in 1867 and 1868 in the days leading to the Meiji Restoration. It examines the effects of the political and social upheaval of the time, and culminates in a revelrous march on the Tokyo Imperial Palace, which turns into a massacre. Characteristically, Imamura focuses not on the leaders of the country, but on characters in the lower classes and on the fringes of society.

Above the Line
Shôhei Imamura·DirectorShōhei Imamura·ScreenplayKen Miyamoto·ScreenplayShinsaku Himeda·Director of PhotographyShinichiro Ikebe·Original Music ComposerKeiichi Uraoka·Editor
Cast
Shigeru Izumiya·GenjiKaori Momoi·IneMasao Kusakari·ItomanKen Ogata·FurukawaNorihei Miki·MasuyaJunzaburō Ban·ToramatsuMitsuko Baisho·OkoShigeru Tsuyuguchi·KinzoАко·OyoshiShōhei Hino·Magoshichi
Full Crew
(15 credits)
Directing· 2
Shōhei Imamura·DirectorHideo Nanbu·Assistant Director
Writing· 2
Shōhei Imamura·ScreenplayKen Miyamoto·Screenplay
Camera· 1
Shinsaku Himeda·Director of Photography
Editing· 1
Keiichi Uraoka·Editor
Sound & Music· 2
Shinichiro Ikebe·Original Music ComposerShotaro Yoshida·Sound Recordist
Art & Design· 1
Akiyoshi Satani·Art Direction
Production· 5
Shōhei Imamura·ProducerShoichi Ozawa·ProducerShigemi Sugisaki·ProducerJirô Tomoda·ProducerNobutsugu Tsubomi·Production Manager
Other Departments· 1
Yasuo Iwaki·Lighting Technician
By the Numbers
63.3
OF 100
Master Score
6.8
OF 10
IMDb
—
CRITICS
Rotten Tomatoes
—
Worldwide Gross
0
Oscar Wins
Where to Watch

THE AVAILABILITY MAP

The canonical record of where this film lives across the streaming map.

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Streaming, rental, and purchase availability for this title is being ingested from the TMDB watch-providers feed and will appear here once the next catalog refresh runs. Until then, the canonical source links below remain the fastest route.

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Poster DNA

THE VISUAL DECONSTRUCTION

Why Not?'s poster has not been indexed by the visual agent yet. The grid below shows the schema the analysis fills in.

Dominant Palette
Pending
Mood
Unanalyzed
Composition
Unanalyzed
Era
Unanalyzed
Visual Style
Unanalyzed

The visual agent has indexed 54,210 posters from the catalog against this schema. The remaining slate is queued for the next enrichment pass.

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THE NEIGHBORHOOD

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THREE WAYS DEEPER

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