Jinsei no onimotsu

It is difficult to discuss the plot of Burden of Life as there is very little of it and to tell very much would probably be the same as telling too much. Briefly, it is a light comedy about an extended family of a middle aged couple with two daughters who are married, one who is about to be married and a nine year old son. There is a central conflict and an incident that happens as a result, but the movie takes its time getting to the "story." The movie meanders at its own pace as it follows various siblings, in-laws and neighbors. In some ways, it's like the family drams Ozu would begin making about 12 years later. If this movie isn't in the same class as those movies, well then so what? How many movies are? This movies has its own charms and is very enjoyable in its own right. It may not be a masterpiece, but it is certainly a fine way to spend an hour and ten minutes.

Tatsuo Saitô and Mitsuko Yoshikawa have married off the third of three daughters. Feeling the expense and too much liquor, he worries about their future, with their nine-year-old son, Masao Hayama. They're not young and he anticipates twenty years before the boy is independent. When he suggests that an education is no guarantee of a good life anymore -- there's a worry that hasn't grown out of date! -- and suggests that they apprentice him to a good trade, she accuses him of not loving his son and leaves for her daughter's home with the boy.

Heinosuke Gosho's family comedy is a mild but heartfelt tempest in a teapot, with several pleasantly drawn battles of the sexes, good performances and even a nicely realized nightclub sequence in which Saitô encounters a couple of underlings out of his usual element. In sum total, it's a very pleasant if not particularly surprising effort.