Director Kinoshita Keisuke helmed this Shochiku production between the family chronic "Ôsone-ke no ashita" (Morning for the Osone Family, 1946) and the sentimental tale of remembrance "Fushichô" (Phoenix, 1947). The film is dominated by the heavy-handed didactism and emotional overkill of both films, and is artistically a lesser work than either of them. This being said the production does feature capable staff. Shindo Kaneto penned the film with Kinoshita, and starring in it are the popular romantic couple Tanaka Kinuyo and Uehara Ken.
In "Phoenix", which premiered a few months after this film, Tanaka played a war widow who had married just before the outbreak of war, and was now comfortable living without a new love interest. "Kekkon" (Marriage, 1947) is a thematic sibling. In this film, Tanaka plays Fumie, a girl who has been engaged to Uehara's Tsumoru for four years. They want to get married, but Tanaka's family is so poor, that she can't leave them, and must instead help them around. The parents know perfectly well that they are stopping her happiness, and they curse the societal situation, where poor people can't afford to live their lives and establish families. The film preaches loudly, and much of the dialogue doesn't feel the least realistic. The problems and the issues are, of course. Just not the way they are phrased in the screenplay. Just as in "Osone Family" and some of his war-time works, Kinoshita is at his worst when he is trying to hammer in a lesson.
Because this is a Japanese tear-jerker, Fumie too has to think about sacrificing her happiness. After all, if she can never marry the guy who promises to wait forever, wouldn't she be a better person if she were to set him free to marry someone else? I didn't think the societal and emotional aspects of the screenplay came together particularly well. Though the film tries to let optimism triumph, I found the whole to be depressing. Because the screenplay can not create likable, multidimensional characters, the great actors featured in the film don't get to shine either. From the 20 films I have seen from Kinoshita, this ranks pretty near the bottom of the pile.
