Nippon Konchuki (aka The Insect Woman) (1963)

A peasant girl (Sachiko Hidari) is exploited by her promiscuous mother (Sumie Sasaki) and possibly molested by her father (Kazuo Kitamura), if he is her biological father (the film is ambiguous on this point). She leaves for Tokyo where in her struggle to survive, she climbs from a cleaning woman to the madam of a brothel. Shohei Imamura's (BLACK RAIN) breakthrough film (in the international sense) is a complicated examination of the survival instinct of the human species and Imamura, quite obviously, uses the insect (the literal translation of the Japanese title is JAPANESE ENTOMOLOGY) as a metaphor for that struggle. Hidari's (in a fine performance, by the way) character is almost impossible to like as she becomes as manipulative and exploitative as the mother and men who have exploited her. The irony is there but she doesn't seem to see it though the film suggests that her own daughter (Jitsuko Yoshimura) will break the cycle despite her own bit of manipulations. I did find it odd that two of the prominent male characters were mentally and/or emotionally stunted though what Imamura was trying to say is unclear. While not as seamless as it could have been, it's a satisfying piece of social study. Shinsaku Himeda did the excellent NikkatsuScope images and Toshiro Mayuzumi did the minimal score.