The Insect Woman (1964) on Netflix

The film follows its heroine Tome from the circumstances of her birth in rural Tohoku in 1918, through the fall of the Imperial government during WWII, up until her middle age in early-60s post-democratic Japan. Tome becomes a metaphor for the resilience of the Japanese spirit through the dramatic changes of the 20th century. The plot is arranged episodically, using freeze frames, voice over, and captions to demarcate and provide commentary on the events unfolding.