Uguisu

If the express train would stop at the small town, the town might revive. Because the town is dying, the express train won't stop there. Meanwhile, the poor people try to do.... something. But the national police station won't let them: the midwife is forbidden to do her work, the nightingale seller is forbidden to catch birds. And so the slow slide to oblivion continues.

The are stories in here, the stories that small dying towns tell, and moments of beauty and humor. Shiro Toyoda's movie may not have the sort of cast whose names ring out, although Haruko Sugimura appeared in films like TOKYO STORY and MESHI. It's another very professional movie, meant to appeal to the people in small towns and urbanites nostalgic for their rural upbringing.