is a 1935 Japanese

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

and shōshimin-eiga film directed by Heinosuke Gosho.

Plot

Elderly couple Shōzō and Tamoko have just successfully married away the third and youngest of their daughters, but get into an argument over their son Kanichi, who is still in elementary school. Shōzō argues that he and Tamoko had Kanichi far too late, and instead of paying for his education another twenty years, he should be taken out of school and sent to work. Tamoko protests his proposition, which infuriates Shōzō so much that he demands that she leaves the house. Tamoko and Kanichi move into the apartment of daughter Itsuko and her husband. Shōzō has increasing doubts about his attitude towards Kanichi, and when his son shows up at his former home, he indulges him and feeds him his favourite food. Tamoko, asked to show more understanding for her husband's perspective by her acquaintances and Itsuko, follows their advice and returns to Shōzō.

Cast

Tatsuo Saitō was a Japanese film actor and director. He appeared in more than two hundred films between 1925 and 1967. Career Saitō joined Nikkatsu studios, where he made his film debut in 1925, before moving to Shochiku two years later. He appeared in many ...

as Shōzō Fukushima *

Mitsuko Yoshikawa was a Japanese actress who played in over 250 films, often under the direction of Yasujirō Ozu and Hiroshi Shimizu. She joined the Shochiku film studios in 1924 and gave her film debut in 1926 in ''Kujaku no hikari''. After the war, she becam ...

as Tamoko Fukushima * Yoshiko Tsubouchi as Takako, the eldest daughter * Kinuyo Tanaka as Itsuko, the second daughter *

Shin Saburi was a Japanese film actor noted for his leading roles in a number of films by the director Yasujirō Ozu including ''Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family'' (1941), '' Tea Over Rice'' (1952), ''Equinox Flower'' (1958) and '' Late Autumn'' (196 ...

as Kōsei Hashimoto * Masao Hayama as Kanichi, the son * Mitsuyo Mizushima as Machiko, the youngest daughter * Kenji О̄yama as Tetsuo Komiyama * Tokuji Kobayashi as Shunkichi Kuriyama

Release

''Burden of Life'' was released in Japan on 10 December 1935 and reached #6 in Kinema Junpo's list of the best films of the year. In 1985, it was screened at the

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from ...

Legacy

For

John Gillett John Gillett (1925–1995) was a British film critic and researcher whose career at the British Film Institute spanned over 44 years. He was also a programmer for the National Film Theatre on the works of Buster Keaton, early Russian cinema and J ...

of the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

, ''Burden of Life'' is "imbued with a naturalistic tone and ‘lived in' visual texture quite beyond American and European cinema of the time". David Owens of the Japan Film Center emphasises the film's character development: "Each of the family members is carefully drawn and each grows before us as an individual, surpassing the sort of character typing that was usual for family melodramas."

References

External links

*
''Burden of Life''
in the

National Film Archive of Japan The is an independent administrative institution and one of Japan's seven national museums of art, which specializes in preserving and exhibiting the film heritage of Japan. In its previous incarnation, it was the National Film Center, which was p ...

{{Heinosuke Gosho 1935 drama films 1935 comedy films Japanese drama films Japanese comedy films Films directed by Heinosuke Gosho 1930s Japanese films Shochiku films