Sayuri Yoshinaga has appeared in more than 100 films since winning the hearts of millions in the 1960s playing spunky, pure-spirited teens for the Nikkatsu studio. Her legions of admirers, called "Sayurists," have remained steadfast over the decades, while she herself has overcome personal and professional slumps to reign, in her seventh decade, as one of the last of Japan's true movie stars.
One reason for that career longevity, as Yoshinaga so amply demonstrates in her latest film, "Kita no Kanariatachi (A Chorus of Angels)," is her sterling work ethic — that is, her willingness to go beyond the call of duty to give fans everything they want and more.
This earnest melodrama, in which she plays a teacher on a small island off the coast of Hokkaido, was filmed on location in the winter and summer of this year in conditions more commonly found in an extreme nature documentary than a star vehicle for an actress in her mid-60s. Yoshinaga not only braves bitter winds and subzero temperatures, but scampers in ankle-deep snow, swims fully clothed in icy ocean chop and climbs a water tower to a dizzying height, minus stunt or CGI assists.