Muddy River is a 1981 film from Japan directed by Kohei Oguri.
The setting is 1955 in Osaka, a city that was mostly destroyed during World War II bombing raids. Nobuo is a boy of ten, who lives in a slum neighborhood near the river; his parents Shinpei and Sadako keep a ramshackle noodle shop. One day a weatherbeaten houseboat moors on the opposite bank of the river. Soon Nobuo makes friends with Kiichi, a boy who lives on the houseboat with his older sister Ginko and their mom. It turns out that their mother Shoko is a widow who has turned to prostitution to support her family.
Tropes:
- As You Know: Early in the film Nobuo's parents make a comment about how "the war's been over ten years", setting the date of the story. Later they mention things they both already know about how they only survived the immediate aftermath of the war by fencing things on the black market.
- Bathtub Scene: Not for Fanservice but for a heartwarming moment, as Sadako takes Ginko into the bath with her, obviously in an effort to get the ragged little girl clean.
- Barefoot Poverty: Not quite barefoot. But a camera shot reveals Kiichi's tattered, worn-out shoes, with his toes sticking out of holes in the front.
- Central Theme: Poverty in post-war Japan, with people getting left out and left behind even as The Korean War was acting as a giant stimulus to Japan's economy.
- Coming of Age Story: Nobuo learns some hard truths about poverty, class differences, and sexual exploitation.
- Deliberately Monochrome: A 1981 movie shot in black-and-white to evoke the feel of the post-war era.
- Houseboat Hero: One of the more depressing examples of this trope. The houseboat is old and while seaworthy doesn't look like it's in a great state of repair. Ginko talks about how they have to lean over the side of the boat to pee, while Kiichi wishes that they could live in a real house.
- Kitchen Sink Drama: A lower-class boy whose family runs a dinky noodle restaurant makes friends with an even poorer boy whose mother is a prostitute.
- Off-into-the-Distance Ending: Ends with Nobuo calling out to Kiichi's mother's houseboat, which sails away downriver.
- Primal Scene: Nobuo is hanging out on the houseboat with Kiichi when he looks through a window and sees Shoko having sex with a customer. It's a disturbing moment, with Nobuo making eye contact with Shoko as her john humps away. Nobuo makes a hurried exit.
- Shell Game: Shinpei calls this a magic trick, and entertains Kiichi by playing the hide-the-bean game with three teacups.
- Single Mom Stripper: Shoko has turned to prostitution to feed her family after her husband, who worked a riverboat, was swept overboard in a storm one night and drowned.
- Street Performer: A Non-Ironic Clown manages to still provide some Ironic Juxtaposition, as the clown and his accompanying band are playing on the street. The street is right outside the hospital where Nobuo and his family have just visited Shinpei's dying first wife.
- Wrong Side of the Tracks: Nobuo is on the lower end of the economic spectrum, with his parents operating a ramshackle noodle shop. But Kiichi is clearly on the bottom, living on a rickety houseboat, with tattered shoes, not going to school, with his mother working as a prostitute. A boy from a family that's a little higher up the ladder invites Nobuo to watch TV at his house, but refuses to let ragged Kiichi come along as well.
