信浓有一座楢山，附近山村的人到了七十岁就得进楢山。树桩家六十九岁的阿玲（坂本澄子 饰）还有三件事放不下：一是四十五岁的长子辰平（绪形拳 饰）去年成了鳏夫；二是二十岁的长孙袈裟吉（仓崎青儿 饰）总是在村里人面前嘲笑自己牢固的牙齿；三是三十五岁的次子利助（左顿平 饰）还未与女人性交过。一年一度的祭祀日，等来了新儿媳阿玉（竹城明 饰）的阿玲狠下心在石臼上磕掉了两颗门牙。割稻子的时节，袈裟吉将雨屋家的阿松（高田顺子 饰）领进了树桩家，可是阿松却将树桩家的粮食偷运至雨屋家。辰平抓住了阿松，但并未张扬，只是私下教训了事。可是雨屋家世代偷盗，终于引发众怒。村里人不仅抄了雨屋家，为绝后患，还将雨屋全家活埋，阿松也不例外。阿玲打定主意冬天进楢山，但是利助的事该拜托谁呢……

视 觉上Flaming Creatures就是Josef von Sternberg加上疯狂的异装癖假面舞会家庭录影。Smith使用了过期黑白胶片，给影片一种缥缈的味道。影片没有情节，配乐用的是一组Maria Montez影片对白蒙太奇，hacienda音乐，和摇滚。他的影片里有搞笑阿拉伯女奴，狂放的西班牙舞者，等等。吸血鬼样的Marilyn Monroe模仿者，当然是男的，从棺材中爬出，出现在空镜头里，手里拿着一捆花，走过一堆尸体。然后开始掀开一尸体的衣服撩拨他的阴茎。就这样，性的复活最终让所有尸体复活，影片如标准的Busby Berkeley音乐剧一样结束了。

本片讲述了因意外事故而同时失去妻子（柴咲幸 饰）和女儿的男性·小山内坚（大泉洋 饰）为主人公的爱情故事。有一天，一个自称三角哲彦（目黑莲 饰）的男人来到陷入悲伤的小山内坚身边，告诉小山内他的女儿在事故发生那天想要来见从未谋面的自己，以及自己与曾经深爱的女性·另一位瑠璃（有村架纯 饰）之间的故事。以此为契机，看似毫无关系的夫妇和曾经的恋人被联系在一起，编织出了曲折而宏大的爱情轨迹。今世为何而生？此生为谁而爱？谜样的女子，究竟是他死去的女儿？抑或是他死去的恋人？她们彼此相异，却又如此相似……

Born in Dongduchon, Chil-su is talented in art. While waiting for a wedding invitation from his sister in America, Chil-su quits his job painting theater signs which is his livelihood. He becomes Man-su's assistant. Man-su is in the army serving his military duty. He suffers under the dark shadow of his father. Chil-su gets dumped by Ji-na, a college student, and he loses all contacts with his sister. Understandably, Chil-su feels a little shaken. On the other hand, Man-su is unable to find stability. One night after they finished a large billboard, the two rave around the tower goofing around. However, the police are deployed when they misunderstand and think that they are trying to kill themselves. Through their misunderstanding, Man-su ultimately falls and injures himself while Chul-su is led away by the police.