is a 2010 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 ...

written and directed by

Kaneto Shindō was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film producer, and writer, who directed 48 films and wrote scripts for 238. His best known films as a director include ''Children of Hiroshima'', ''The Naked Island'', '' Onibaba'', ''Kuroneko'' an ...

. It was Shindō's last film before his death in 2012 at age 100. The film is set during and after the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

and deals with the effect of the death of soldiers on their families. It is loosely based on Shindō's wartime experiences.

Plot

Near the end of the Pacific War, Sadazo Morikawa is one of a group of 100 overaged conscripts for the Japanese navy assigned to cleaning duty. Once the cleaning duty has finished, the members are chosen by lottery for various duties. Sadazo is assigned to serve in the Philippines. He thinks he will not survive, and asks a comrade, Matsuyama, to return a postcard to his wife, Tomoko, and tell her that he received it before he died. Earlier, Sadazo is conscripted, and he says goodbye to his parents Yukichi and Chiyo and wife Tomoko. Later, a military official reports Sadazo's death. Sadazo's parents plead with Tomoko not to leave, and to marry their younger son Sanpei. Tomoko agrees to marry Sanpei. Sanpei is conscripted. He considers running away but his parents tell him it is useless. Sanpei dies in the war. Later, during farm work, Yukichi dies from a heart condition. Chiyo gives Tomoko some money and then hangs herself. The war ends and Matsuyama returns to Japan. His wife has run away after an affair with his father, and is now working as a bar hostess in Osaka. They meet and argue, and she tells him she wishes he had died in the war. Matsuyama makes his way to Tomoko's house to deliver the postcard. He talks about Sadazo and tells her he plans to go to Brazil. He has 200,000

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...

from the sale of his fishing boat, and he tries to give her half. She refuses. He has a fight with Kichigoro, another suitor of Tomoko. After Tomoko and Matsuyama quarrel, they agree to go to Brazil together. They burn Sadazo and Sanpei's ashes. Tomoko gets drunk and sets fire to the house. Matsuyama pulls her out of the burning house. They decide to stay in Japan and grow barley on the site of the old house. The film ends with them in the field of barley.

Cast

Etsushi Toyokawa is a Japanese actor. Biography Born in Yao, Osaka, he studied at Shimizudani High School is a prestigious Japanese public co-educational senior high school (secondary school), located in Tennōji-ku, Osaka, Japan. Overview Shimizudan ...

as Keita Matsuyama *

Shinobu Otake is a Japanese actress. She has won three Japanese Academy Awards: the 2000 Best Actress award for '' Railroad Man'', and the 1979 awards for both Best Actress ('' The Incident'') and Best Supporting Actress (''Seishoku no ishibumi''). She also w ...

as Tomoko Morikawa * Naomasa Musaka as Morikawa *

Akira Emoto is a Japanese actor. Career In 1999, he won the Japanese Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in '' Dr. Akagi''. He also won the award for best supporting actor at the 7th Hochi Film Award for ''Dotonbori River'' and '' Hearts and F ...

as Yukichi Morikawa *

Ren Ohsugi , born was a Japanese actor. For his work in '' Cure'', '' Hana-bi'' and other films, Osugi was given the Best Supporting Actor award at the 1999 Yokohama Film Festival. He often worked alongside Takeshi Kitano and Susumu Terajima. In the DVD c ...

as Kichigoro

Production

The film is loosely based on Shindō's experiences during the Pacific War, when, despite being considered poorly fit for military service, he was one of a unit of 100 men conscripted into the Japanese navy, of whom only six survived, solely because of a lottery. Shindō was 98 years old at the time of filming. The musical score is by Shindō's long term collaborator

Hikaru Hayashi was a Japanese composer, pianist and conductor. Hayashi is considered to be one of the most renowned and accomplished Japanese composers of the postwar period. In particular, Hayashi was noted for his choral suite ''Scenes from Hiroshima'' (195 ...

Reception

''Postcard'' premiered at the 23rd

Tokyo International Film Festival The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. Along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals, and is considered to be the ...

in October 2010, where Shindō announced that this would be his last film. The film was selected as the Japanese entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the

84th Academy Awards The 84th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2011 in the United States and took place on February 26, 2012, at the Hollywood and Highland Center Theatre in ...

, but it did not make the final shortlist.

References

External links