No Regrets for Our Youth
A privileged professor’s daughter discovers conviction, love, and communal purpose while authoritarian Japan destroys the world she once took for granted.
Overview
A poignant exploration of love and sacrifice amidst the turmoil of war and political strife.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- earnest
- politically charged
- romantic
- classic film evening
- historical drama viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a powerful and formally assured postwar political drama, while some fault its eccentric protagonist and simplified account of historical resistance.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Yukie abandons privilege and reshapes her life after imprisonment and the persecution of Noge's family.
The plot draws on the 1933 academic freedom crisis, fascist repression, wartime espionage accusations, and postwar debates about responsibility.
Yukie moves from a professor's sheltered household to physically demanding rice cultivation alongside Madame Noge.
Kurosawa's early postwar direction presents academic protest, imprisonment, rural labor, and national renewal with austere formal gravity.
Films like No Regrets for Our Youth, and why
The Human Condition
postwar japanese drama, political idealism, and a morally resolute woman confronting authoritarian society
The Burmese Harp
black and white japanese historical drama centered on social conscience, repression, and individual resistance
The Life of Oharu
political repression, wartime moral conflict, and emotionally serious japanese melodrama
Ikiru
kurosawa's humanist treatment of civic responsibility, social institutions, and personal dignity
Movie Details
- Director
- Akira Kurosawa
- Release Date
- 1946-10-29
- Runtime
- 111 min
- Rating
- 6.9 / 10 (96)
Cast
- Setsuko Hara
- Susumu Fujita
- Denjirō Ōkōchi
- Haruko Sugimura
- Eiko Miyoshi
- Akitake Kōno
- Kokuten Kōdō
- Takashi Shimura
- Taizō Fukami
- Masao Shimizu
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is No Regrets for Our Youth about?
- A privileged professor’s daughter discovers conviction, love, and communal purpose while authoritarian Japan destroys the world she once took for granted.
- What is No Regrets for Our Youth like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of No Regrets for Our Youth as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is No Regrets for Our Youth violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in No Regrets for Our Youth as mild.
- What did critics think of No Regrets for Our Youth?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a powerful and formally assured postwar political drama, while some fault its eccentric protagonist and simplified account of historical resistance.
- Which films are like No Regrets for Our Youth?
- Films with a similar feel include The Human Condition, The Burmese Harp, The Life of Oharu, and Ikiru.
- How long is No Regrets for Our Youth?
- No Regrets for Our Youth runs 111 minutes.
- Where can I watch No Regrets for Our Youth?
- In United States, No Regrets for Our Youth streams on Criterion Channel.
