Farewell to Dream (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1956)

Noriko Kikuoki, Shinji Tanaka, and Yoshiko Kuga in Farewell to Dream (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1956) Cast: Shinji Tanaka, Yuko Mochizuki, Yoshiko Kuga, Eijiro Tono, Noriko Kikuoki, Takahiro Tamura, Ryohei Ono. Screenplay: Yoshiko Kusuda. Cinematography: Hiroshi Kusuda. Art direction: Kazue Hirataka. Film editing: Yoshi Sugihara. Music: Chuji Kinoshita.  The English title, Farewell to Dream, seems to be grammatically or idiomatically off: We would expect Farewell to a Dream or ... Dreams instead. (The Japanese title is Yûyake-gumo, which Google Translate renders as "Sunset Cloud.") But then there's something a little off about this entire short film -- only 78 minutes long. Its young narrator, Yoichi (Shinji Tanaka), tells us his story about how circumstances made him bid farewell to his dreams, except that he doesn't seem to have had any substantial dream other than not following in his father's footsteps as a fishmonger, a job he hates because it makes him smell of fish, causing other boys to taunt him. We can't really blame him, but the film never suggests that Yoichi had a clear plan of escape from that life. He spends a good deal of his time looking out over the rooftops of Tokyo through his binoculars, sighting a pretty young woman whom he dreams of meeting. Eventually, he and his friend Seiji (Ryohei Ono) make their way across the city to where they think the young woman lives, only to arrive in her neighborhood as she's getting into an automobile with the man she's engaged to marry. Yoichi's story is also mixed with that of his sisters: The elder one, Toyoko (Yoshiko Kuga), is pretty and vain, and has a handsome boyfriend, Sudo (Takahiro Tamura). But when Sudo's family goes broke, she marries an older man -- and then carries on an affair with Sudo. When his father (Eijiro Tono) falls ill, Yoichi's parents allow a rich uncle to adopt his younger sister, Kazue (Noriko Kikuoki), in exchange for some financial support, and we see Yoichi bid a sad farewell to the girl. I think we're meant to sympathize with Yoichi in the collapse of his family, but the irony is that after his father dies, Yoichi turns out to be a very good fishmonger, building a thriving business from his own talent as a cook by developing a sideline as a caterer and seller of prepared meals. Like it or not, Yoichi has become what many families would see as a blessing: the son who successfully keeps the family business alive. The effect is that Yoichi's lament for his lost future feels like self-pity rather than legitimate dismay at unfulfilled potential.

Farewell to Dream 1956, dir. Keisuke Kinoshita

Farewell to Dream (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1956)

Farewell to Dream (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1956)

Farewell to Dream (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1956)

Farewell to Dream (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1956)

Farewell to Dream 1956, dir. Keisuke Kinoshita