Farewell to Dream (1956) User Reviews

Hard luck family struggles to get by

[pscamp01 · 8/10 · 3 February 2014]

The Japanese seem to specialize in movies about poor families struggling to keep from sliding further into poverty. I know there must be some American movies like that (although I can't think of any right off the top of my head) but in Japan they appear to be a genre within themselves. Mikio Naruse was a mater of the genre but here we have a movie by Keisuke Kinoshita. Kinoshita was known for trying out as many genres as he could, and here it is like he decided to see if he could out-Naruse Naruse. And I have to say he does a pretty good job. The trick is to show the hardships endured by the characters without overwhelming the viewer. Kinoshita gets the tone right in his movie: there are plenty of misfortunes, but the there is never any sentimentality or pathos. I know many people would be bored stiff or depressed by a movie like this, but I find it refreshing to see a movie about real people instead of Hollywood caricatures and getting caught up in their ups and downs. Recommended for fans of old Japanese movies (particularly those made by Naruse) or anyone else interested in movies off the beaten path.

When Times Are Hard, Children Have To Grow Up Fast

[boblipton · 7/10 · 20 March 2019]

Shinji Tanaka's family is poor. They run a fish shop in a side street in a poor section of Tokyo. The young man has dreams of becoming a sailor, and he looks through his binoculars at the harbor and the occasional young woman. But his father falls ill and his family and friends start to fall away. He has to grow up fast.

Keisuke Kinoshita's film of hard times for young people is not among his great pictures, but it is heartfelt. Although the protagonist is Tanaka, like many of his movies, the glue that holds it together is close to the center, but not in it. Yûko Mochizuki as Tanaka's mother is loving, kind, and aware of everything that is going on, despite her soft insistence that everything is fine. The veneer cracks only a couple of times, but she underplays the scenes in such a deft fashion that she is the warmest character in all of Kinoshita's cynical post-war movies.

"Kinoshita gets the tone right in his movie" Redux

[jherbertbpc · 9/10 · 8 May 2014]

I watched Farewell to Dream soon after watching Snow Flurry. As beautiful and aspiring as Snow Flurry is, I was not fully convinced by the performances of its cast. However, Farewell To Dream hits the mark. Not only the tone, but the pacing, editing, the story line, and on the mark performances make this film a poignant and classic iteration of the Kinoshita style. While Keisuke Kinoshita has directed a number of films considered more "Classic": 24 Eyes, and Ballad of Narayama, in my view some of his lesser appreciated (?, accessible?) films such as Thus Another Day and Farewell to Dream represent and attain a level of emotional authenticity in Cinema often found missing in even the most Classic, High Art, Films of the "Golden Age" of Japanese Cinema.

Dark, Depressing, and Dull Soaper.

[net_orders · 4/10 · 6 January 2018]

FAREWELL TO DREAMS / SUNSET CLOUDS [Lit.] (YÛYAKE-GUMO). Viewed on Streaming. Cinematography and lighting = six (6) stars; restoration/ preservation = (4) stars; music = three (3) stars; subtitles = two (2) stars. Director Keisuke Kinoshita's small-scale shomin-geki (home drama) production about an impoverished, but reproductively prolific (five off-springs and counting--ranging from a twenty something daughter to an infant) fishmonger who blames his bad fortunes on everything but himself. (Fortunately he soon dies before adding any more unhappiness to the population.) This is a tale of desperate dreamers each of whom have the same objective: escaping a back-alley smelly (and not particularly clean) run-down family fish business. The fishmonger wants to retire (and sponge off his rich relatives?); the wife seems to just want to die (after getting the baby literally off her back); the eldest daughter wants to have good times (in other parts of town) simultaneously financed by legal and extra-legal lovers; the teenage son wants to join the Navy; the two preteen daughters just want to take lots of day trips (one eventually makes it out by being "adopted" by a relative); and the baby? S/he may be the exception here by simply wanting not to fall off her/his mother's back (the kid is just tied on with two strips of cloth!). Some (more or less) realize their dreams (including viewers who are able to find the movie-changing button on their remotes in the dark!). The Director loads his film with actresses and actors. Unfortunately, none of the players are directed so as to enable the viewer to end up caring much about their predicaments. A major disconnect. Cinematography (narrow screen, black and white) is not particularly notable except for the panning and tracking shots that open the film. Lighting is a bit on the dark side (perhaps to enhance the feeling of depression?). Music suffers from a lack of creative orchestration and musicians who are not violin players. It seems to be stuck in a sentimental loop (to enhance the dreariness of the photo play?). Subtitles are a major problem. They are needed to help with the Kansai-ben dialect. But require serious editing by a Kansai-ben grammarian, since they are way,way too long, and flash by at ludicrous speeds. Only one sign is translated. Restoration/preservation suffers from continuous age-related audio artifacts. A Shochiku programmer and poster child for birth control! WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.