Pretty good study of class division in Japan, circa 1959. I was especially pleased that the film's title turns out to be ironic. Less pleased with the general air of stolidity and humorlessness that you often find in Japanese art house cinema (Ozu notably excepted). Could have used more of the sardonic female shoeshine workers and less of the extremely dull love story sub plot involving the dedicated high school teacher, a character on whom you can usually count in films to be a bore, and the young CEO. B minus.
Review of A Town of Love and Hope
