Izakaya yûrei

I was expecting a ghost film with a dark edge and possibly some violence. But this is a delightful comedy with a sense of community, and just a trace of a dark side.

The acting is uniformly excellent, the numerous support actors being at least as good as the leading trio (the pub owner, his former wife and new wife). The story, though somewhat slow to start, warms up slowly and becomes involving around the half-way mark.

A few of the plot points are a little hard to swallow. For instance, that the pretty girl falls in love so quickly with the lead character. Gimme a break ! He ain't that good. And the rules under which the former wife (a roaming ghost) can cross the threshold and cross back.

But these are minor criticisms. The warmth (there's that word again) of the interaction of the characters who hang around the titular pub is very pleasant indeed. And the ending is a classic "aw shucks" sort-of feelgood, a fairly rare thing these days, though not uncommon in older films.

Highly recommended.