A very touching 1962 Japanese film about a group of older men who meet up every year to reminisce and their attempts to help a former teacher who has fallen on hard times. Interwoven with this is the story of two unmarried daughters and their realisation by their fathers that it is their own selfishness which has stopped them from marrying, and their attempts to make amends. There is an awful lot of bowing and polite conversation
Like all other Japanese films I have seen, this reminds me of English films of the same period. No swearing, no nudity, no violence, just a good story simply told. There was none of the loud and grating voices you often get in American films today, and definitely no car chases.
It was, in fact, the sort of film you could watch a second time, and just enjoy the different world that it portrayed - a world much more gentle than today.
As the film, which was at the BFI, didn't start till a quarter to nine, it was quite late when I got home. Walking across the bridge to Embankment is lovely late at night; with all the lighted buildings lining the river it's quite magical.
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