The Road I Travel with You

The Road I Travel With You is the story of two young men who are the sons of a deceased businessman and his mistress. Stigmatized by their social status, the two men struggle to find their place in society. The older son is embittered because the family of the woman he loves refuses to allow her to marry him, while the younger son is attending college and is optimistic about his future. The movie is directed by Mikio Naruse who would later become one of Japan's master directors, but there is little evidence of his future greatness here. The dialog is heavy handed and didactic and there is little depth, if any, to the characters. The movie is rare and hard to find, and really not much worth the effort of tracking down.

This is Naruse's early piece of romantic tragedy involving two pairs of romantic lovers with their lives destroyed by materialism. Asaji and Yuji are two brothers with a money-minded mother. The two brothers fall for two girls - Kasumi and Tsukiko while their mother have other options for them with the intention of preparing big money and prospect for her two sons.

Family name and responsibility come first rather than romance is the conventional mindset in Japan in the 1930s. (Spoiler Ahead) In the process of rebellion, the elder brother lost hope in future and died tragically with his love interest following him (Resonating the title of the film). Will the mother learn from the terrible experience. Will you as the audience choose the same path. What will happen to the romance of his younger brother Yuji who is under the same spell. Kimi no yuku michi is a nice piece of romantic drama.

Heihachirô Ôkawa and Hideo Saeki are the sons of Tamae Kiyokawa. Because she was their father's mistress, they are not properly part of the family; she accepted a large settlement when he died and they are comfortable. She is, as mothers properly are, concerned about her sons' future, and keeps suggesting practical (i.e. financially rewarding) family situations for them. They, however, are young and romantic, and Ôkawa and the neighbor's daughter, Naoyo Yamagata, are in love. Her family does not approve, not only because of his low rank, but because her father needs half a million yen to keep the business going, and an elderly suitor is willing to offer that as a bride price.

Saeki is in love, too, with Naoyo Yamagata, Miss Yamagata's best friend and the lovers' go-between. She is very taken with her admirer.

Mikio Naruse's take on the travails of young romantic love in a coldly practical and tradition-bound world can be looked on as a clear-eyed variation on ROMEO AND JULIET. The elders are all practical, and Miss Kiyokawa gives a fine performance as the loving mother who constantly annoys her sons because she does not even begin to consider what they want and feel. Likewise, her sons make no attempt to understand the issues that consume her thoughts; they are in love, beautiful love, and the uncaring and tradition-bound world, they believe, must give way to true love.

When we studied Shakespeare's play in high school, and then saw Zefferelli's movie version, I was struck by what impatient idiots Romeo and Juliet were. Naruse's version is not one of his best movies, but he makes it clear that the fault lies in the hands of everyone involved.