As we begin, Sada Keiji plays the driver of a small bus in the mountainous countryside. This location would bring to mind the film "Arigato-san" (Mr. Thank You, 1936) even if Sada's location wasn't literally "Shimizu". There is going to be a tunnel here, that will be opened in a month: the tunnel will make the passage through the mountains a lot quicker, and a lot safer. In Japanese buses there was, besides the driver, apparently a sort-of bus hostess, who helps the driver and announces the places they arrive in. The one in Sada's bus is in love with the handsome driver. In Shimizu, however, the quiet driver starts to ponder his personal history, which we then see up to this point in flashbacks.
Gosho works well with the structure, and does not hit it too close to Kinoshita, for whom it had by 1961 become something of a trademark. In this film, the past gets to run in a quick pace, which creates a nice tempo for the film. The central narrative is about Sada's character and his childhood sweetheart, played by Arima Ineko. They got separated during the war, and life has not been kind to either. The plot is dense, and full of dark subject matters, and I will not spoil more of it here, but the film wonders if second chances are possible in life.
This film presents Gosho in his natural territory, even though the screenplay is by Shindo Kaneto. The narrative advances in its own pace, gradually expanding the narrative arc. For all characters, the experience of war has left a lot of wounds. The film does not take the melodramatic route, but then again it also doesn't lie to the viewer, that people can just decide to heal from past traumas. The film is beautifully shot in color. The best thing in many Gosho films, and this one as well, is the director's clear vision about when to cut. All the edits, all the cutaways are measured to the very second, that allows them to have the most biting emotional effect. Thus individual scenes can become masterworks, because the director is so good.
The performances are great across the board. The beaten-down despair of Arima, the quiet melancholy of Sada, and the energetic, super-weird 3-minute role by Nakadai all left an impression. The ending, which I will not spoil, is one you can interpret as either happy or sad, but the film definitely campaigns for a better, less bumpy and less mountainous future.
