''Bitter End of a Sweet Night'' ( ja, 甘い夜の果て, Amai yoru no hate) is a 1961 Japanese
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Yoshishige Yoshida
, also known as Kijū Yoshida, was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.
Life and career
Graduating from the University of Tokyo, where he studied French literature, Yoshida entered the Shōchiku studio in 1955 and worked as an assistant t ...
.
Plot
Young shop clerk Jirō is eager to climb the social ladder, an aim for which he uses and manipulates everyone around him. He talks diner waitress Harumi into moving into his flat and introduces her to bar madam Soko, who pays him for his mediation. While Harumi is reluctant to Jirō's advances, she eventually agrees to Soko's plan to have refinery owner Hondo act as her patron and pay an apartment for her. Jirō has affairs both with Soko and Masae, the widowed daughter-in-law of foundry owner Oka, whom he intends to marry for her money. When Hondo buys Oka out of his heavily indebted company, Masae is left without any assets, and Jirō dumps her. After Harumi dies in a car accident with another lover, Jirō returns to Soko, who bluntly tells him that she will keep him simply as her gigolo and pet, to which he starts laughing hysterically.
Cast
*
Masahiko Tsugawa
, born Masahiko Katō (加藤 雅彦 ''Katō Masahiko''; January 2, 1940 – August 4, 2018) was a Japanese actor and director.
Career
Tsugawa was born January 2, 1940, in Kyoto, Japan. After acting as a child, he made his major debut at the age ...
as Jirō Tezuka
* Teruyo Yamagami as Harumi Nishimoto
*
Sumiko Hidaka as Hisako Nishimoto, Harumi's mother
* Michiko Saga as Soko Mishima
*
Jun Hamamura
was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1938 and 1995.
Selected filmography
* ''Wolf'' (1955)
* '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956)
* '' The Hole'' (1957)
* ''The Temptress and the Monk'' (1958)
* ''Enjō'' (1958)
* ''Odd Obs ...
as Kenkichi Mishima, Soko's father
*
Osamu Takizawa
was a Japanese actor. He was born in Ushigome, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Starting at the Tsukiji Little Theater, Takizawa participated in a number of theatrical troupes before forming Gekidan Mingei with Jūkichi Uno. His was praised for his performan ...
as Hondo
* Hiroko Sugita as Masae Oka
* Takamaru Sasaki as Tokusaburo Oka, Masae's father-in-law
Home media
''Bitter End of a Sweet Night'' was released on DVD in France in 2008
and in Japan in 2013
as part of DVD boxes with collected works by Yoshida.
References
External links
*
Bibliography
*
{{Yoshishige Yoshida
1961 films
1961 drama films
Japanese drama films
Japanese black-and-white films
Films directed by Yoshishige Yoshida
1960s Japanese films