ID this Japanese film with origami and snow

December 31, 2004 9:38 AM

ObscureMovieFilter: DagMaggot's question jarred a memory I have of a film I saw several years in a row in grade school (late '70s). It was a Japanese film in which a boy loses his mother to some disease (possibly cancer)? As I recall, the mother used to entertain her son by folding origami, and I remember a scene with lots of snow. I also don't remember much, if any, dialog.

It's not a lot to go on, but that's all I remember, and I haven't been able to find it since. Pointers appreciated.
posted by aberrant to media & arts (3 comments total)

It's not "Sadako and the 1000 Paper Cranes" is it? Author: Elanor Coerr.
posted by aedra at 10:10 PM on December 31, 2004

Aedra, that doesn't sound like the right story, but it sure does look interesting. Thanks for passing it along.
posted by aberrant at 10:25 AM on January 1, 2005

Here is the Sadako Film Project (which is true, if that's not clear); it dates from 1991, though Sadako died in 1955, so there may have been other adaptations. There's also this lovely poem and artwork.

It didn't turn up in this origami in the media page, either. In any case, the crane is a symbol of hope and it would be traditional to invoke the crane for a dying relative -- though not necessarily in origami.

The snow, though, sounds like Tree of Cranes -- except that's also 1991. Hmmm.
posted by dhartung at 10:26 PM on January 1, 2005