The Ballad of Narayama

“With my mother on my back, now is the time to say goodbye to this world.”

Nobody in the village will say why the old ones go up the mountain, only that everyone goes at seventy and no one comes back down. Orin (Kinuyo Tanaka) is 69, still sharp and busy, and she has already accepted that her turn is coming. Keisuke Kinoshita shows her putting the household in order for the day her son Tatsuhei (Teiji Takahashi) lifts her onto his back and starts the climb.