Chichi

In the Kyushu city of Kagoshima, Eiji Bandô is a problem son, a problem husband, and a problem father. He's always looking for the great idea that will make him rich, so much so hat his wife is divorcing him..... and continues to make feeble motions in that direction throughout the years and length of the movie. His son is estranged because he's always off in some distant location like Brazil, finding a local singer that will be a hit in Japan.

Keisuke Kinoshita 's last movie is a far cry from the propaganda pieces that made up his first couple of films as director, and equally far from the angry and despairing movies about the failure of Japan for the following fifteen years. Now that he was 76, he preferred to see the parts of Japan that worked, and which had fueled his anger, and look lovingly on well-intentioned and good-humored failures, when they are made with love. Bandô may be a failure to the world, and even to his family, but they know he loves them, and they love him.

Kinoshita's swan song (he would live for another ten years afterward) follows the misadventures of a middle-aged man (Eiji Bando), who is fond of coming up with get-rich-quick schemes, much to the chagrin of his family. This is a light comedy, not especially memorable. It has its charms, though. Bando is very good in the title role. The one thing I really liked about it is, while Bando comes across as a likable enough schlub, we realize very quickly that it'd be a huge pain to love him. The film never feels the need to push the family unit as a be-all, end-all. Bando's wife, Kin Sugai, is pushing for divorce through most of the film, and his son, Makoto Nonomura, is constantly embarrassed by him, but we are never made to feel like they are in the wrong. The film is not especially Ozu-like - though it's pretty much in the same genre as his movies - but I found myself wondering how Ozu might have handled the material.