Une auberge à Osaka

Mr. Mito (Shuji Sano), a Tokyo businessman, is demoted and sent to Osaka. There, he finds lodging in the titular inn, and makes the acquaintance of many of the town's citizens. Notable among them are the maids at the inn, a hard-drinking geisha, and a mysterious woman Mito encounters at the mailbox. In Japan, director Gosho's name is synonymous with melancholy and finding laughter through tears; An Inn at Osaka bears up that reputation. The struggle to stay afloat in life, especially financially, is a running theme of the film, as all of the characters struggle with looming poverty and gnawing loneliness, but it all ends with a kind of quiet triumph.

This film begins with an executive for an insurance company by the name of "Mr. Mita" (Shuji Sano) being demoted and reassigned from Tokyo to Osaka due to an altercation with his boss. Realizing that he must live within his means, his first priority upon arriving in Osaka is to find an inexpensive place to live and by chance finds a cheap hotel which suits his needs. Although a quiet person by nature who enjoys his privacy, he soon gets to know the residents and employees there at the hotel quite well. It's also at this time that he is introduced to a geisha named "Uwabami" (Nobuko Otawa) who becomes quite enamored with him and does everything she can to get him to reciprocate her attention. Unfortunately, this turns out to be an extremely difficult endeavor due to his inability to fully contend with the pain and suffering from those all around him. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a rather sad and depressing film which depicted the hardship of those struggling to make ends meet in post-war Japan. A bit too sad and depressing in my mind. In any case, while I cannot honestly say that I enjoyed it that much, I can recommend it to those viewers interested in a film of this type and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Shûji Sano slapped his supervisor. They can't fire him; his grandfather was a founder of the insurance company he works at. Instead, they transfer him to Osaka, where he doesn't know anyone, and rents are very high. He settles into a cheap and rundown downtown inn. The staff is friendly and gossipy, and a rowdy geisha, played by Nobuko Otowa, keeps coming into his room, causing even more gossip. He is, however, so stiff and formal and silent, that everyone thinks him odd, until one day he sells his grandfather's French watch, takes some of the inn's staff on a trip to Osaka Castle, and listens as they talk about themselves and their hardscrabble existence. Gradually, he comes to be part of their lives, and they of his.

It's a great movie by Heinosuke Gosho about the flowering of compassion. There is no sense of conventional story arc, in which matters turn out well. Everyone is worse off at the end than at the beginning. Yet it is no tragedy, because there are some things that are more important than material success. Indeed, it is that realization and the acting on it, however unsuccessfully, that makes this movie about the human spirit. Everyone may be worse off materially at the end, but Sano and the friends he has made in Osaka, are better people, more honest, more open, kinder, and determined to be better.