A fine film that is kind of midway between Ozu's gently-paced domestic drama and Mizoguchi's stories about prostitutes. Naruse takes a snapshot of a brief period in the decline of a geisha house, as post-war society in Japan shifts to a more modernized mindset. It's not a particularly subtle or ground-breaking work, but it is agreeably well-done. Not a bad performance in the bunch, and it's got a nicely rounded set of characters. Occasionally confusing, though.