Uruwashiki saigetsu (1955)

Uruwashiki saigetsu: Directed by Masaki Kobayashi. With Keiji Sada, Yoshiko Kuga, Isao Kimura, Toshiko Kobayashi. Masaki Kobayashi directs this romantic drama concerning a family of florists.

“The conventional wisdom about the director, Masaki Kobayashiu0026#39;s movie career is that he was forced by his studio to make a bunch of uninteresting crowd pleasers before he was allowed to make his 60u0026#39;s masterpieces. Well, I donu0026#39;t know (yet) about all of his early movies, but Beautiful Days strikes me as a movie that any director would have been proud to have directed. Sure, itu0026#39;s not in the same league as The Human Condition or Kwaidan, but itu0026#39;s still an excellently made drama.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere is not much of a plot. Most of the action revolves around three young men who have been friends since middle school but now find themselves drifting apart. Thatu0026#39;s about it. The storyline isnu0026#39;t really the point. The movieu0026#39;s pleasures come from the charactersu0026#39; interactions and the way they respond to the pressures caused by tough economic times, nostalgia, family pressures and disillusionment caused by WWII. The performances are all very good, but the movie is stolen by Keiji Sada who plays a jazz drummer who is trying, rather half-heartedly, to live a life of dissipation.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAgain, this movie lacks the grand ambitions and social commentary of Kobayashiu0026#39;s later movies, but anyone looking for a solid, quiet drama wonu0026#39;t be disappointed.”