Each Night I Dream (1933) Yogoto no yume (original title)

Director:

Mikio Naruse

Writers:

Tadao Ikeda (script)
Mikio Naruse (original story)

Release Date:

8 June 1933 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama

Cast

Sumiko Kurishima	...	Omitsu
Tatsuo Saitô	...	Mizuhara, Omitsu's husband
Atsushi Arai	...	Neighbour
Mitsuko Yoshikawa	...	Neighbour's wife
Chôko Iida	...	Landlady
Teruko Kojima	...	Fumi, Omitsu's daughter
Reikô Tani	...	Morie
Einosuke Naka	...	Doctor
Tsuruko Kumoi	...	Waitress #1
Teruko Wakamizu	...	Waitress #2
Takeshi Sakamoto
Shigeru Ogura
Ichirô Okuni
Seikô Nakamura
Ranko Sawa
Kenji Ôyama

Directed by
Mikio Naruse

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Tadao Ikeda		script
Mikio Naruse		original story

Original Music by
Masao Koga

Cinematography by
Suketaro Inokai

Art Direction by
Tatsuo Hamada

Set Decoration by
Kôjiro Kawasaki
Matasaburo Okuno

Costume Design by
Matsunosuke Matsushita

Makeup Department
Sae Takita	....	hair stylist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Heizô Iwaya	....	assistant director
Minoru Matsui	....	assistant director
Minoru Shibuya	....	assistant director

Art Department
Seizô Kubota	....	set designer

Camera and Electrical Department
Eijirô Fujita	....	assistant photographer
Shozo Noguchi	....	gaffer
Masao Saito	....	assistant photographer

Other crew
Kiyomitsu Hinata	....	text photography
Toshimi Nassho	....	film development
Tomoyasu Shiga	....	title designer
Tayû Tajiri	....	stage manager

Production Companies

• Shochiku Kamata

Distributors

• Asakusa Teikokukan (1933) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (2011) (USA) (DVD)
• Shochiku Home Video (1994) (Japan) (VHS)

Also Known As:

"Yogoto no yume" - Japan (original title)
"Every-Night Dreams" - USA (literal English title)
"Nightfly Dreams" - USA (festival title)

Runtime:

USA:64 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Shochiku Kamata

Sight, waters

I'll admit I have no use for something like this. I can watch a street view from a window by the hours and remain utterly transfixed, just a view of the world rolling around with its splendor of mundane minutiae. But don't give me flows of life melodramatized to look ordinary. Don't squeeze out histrionics as though insight.

As with contemporaneous Ozu, this troubles me more because it's already sparse enough to let you imagine where emptiness may reside at heart. But instead of being properly empty so that the smallest gesture can ring far and wide with meaning, we have scripted life.

The plot is about a wayward father who returns to take care of his family. The mother is working hard as a hostess to raise her child. Jobs are scarce.

A lot of that brings to mind Ozu's silents except this is much more despondent as a whole. The finale is bleak, pure damaged life that goes unredeemed. Instead of a sacrificing hero, the last memory of the man is as a coward and a scoundrel.

So I'm going to pass on this but want to make a last comment. Two instances visually stand out, in how sudden violence that has taken place far from us is transferred here and now, and merged with our vision. One is the car accident, Naruse's inventive touch is that he renders the thing with a toy car pushed by the father over a dresser. The second is in the finale, where the woman is confronted with bitter news and her sight becomes the blurry waters.

These are nice but again a little slight compared to what was being achieved elsewhere.