Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1957
Times of Joy and Sorrow
Buy Times of Joy and Sorrow now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = 'Times of Joy and Sorrow'
| native_name =
| image = Yorokobi mo kanashimi mo ikutoshitsuki 1.jpg
| caption = Hideko Takamine and Keiji Sada at Kannonzaki in the opening of 'Times of Joy and Sorrow' (1957)
| director = Keisuke Kinoshita
| producer = Shochiku
| writer = Keisuke Kinoshita
| starring =
| music = Chuji Kinoshita
| cinematography = Hiroshi Kusuda
| editing =
| distributor =
| released =
| runtime = 162 minutes
| country = Japan
| language = Japanese
| budget =
}}
'Times of Joy and Sorrow' (USA title), 'The Lighthouse' (UK title), or
, is a 1957 color Japanese film directed by Keisuke Kinoshita, who shot on location at 10 different lighthouses throughout Japan, including opening scenes at Kannonzaki, the site of the country's first lighthouse.
Plot
In 1932, a young lighthouse keeper returns from his father's funeral with a new bride, who quickly learns the importance of the marital bond to members of her husband's profession, which is often characterized by the hardships of physical isolation and sudden reassignment. Over the next 25 years they transfer to ten different lighthouses throughout Japan, raising two children and befriending multiple colleagues and their families. They endure wartime attacks on the strategically relevant lighthouses as well as a tragedy involving one of their children, ultimately celebrating the other's marriage and settling together into middle age.
Cast
* Hideko Takamine as Kiyoko Arisawa
* Keiji Sada as Shiro Arisawa
* Takahiro Tamura as Mr. Nozu
* Katsuo Nakamura as Kotaro
* Yko Katsuragi as Fuji Tatsuko
* Kji Mitsui as Mr. Kanemaki
* Kuniko Igawa as Itoko Suzuki
* Shizue Natsukawa as Mrs. Natori
* Masako Arisawa as Yukino
* Hiroko It as Masako
* Noboru Nakaya as Shingo Natori
* Takeshi Sakamoto as Postmaster
* Ryji Kita as Natori
* Mutsuko Sakura as Mrs. Kanemaki
Featured Lighthouses
* Kannonzaki Lighthouse - Miura Peninsula, Kanagawa
* Ishikari Lighthouse - Ishikari, Hokkaido
* [https://lighthouse-japan.com/tokyo/izuoshima/izuoshima.html Izu Oshima Lighthouse] - Izu shima, Izu Islands
* Mizunokojima Lighthouse - Bungo Channel, Oita
* Meshima Lighthouse - Got Islands, Nagasaki
* [https://lighthouse-japan.com/niigata/hajikisaki/hajikisaki.html Hajiki Saki Lighthouse] - Sado Island, Niigata
* Omaesaki Lighthouse - Omaezaki, Shizuoka
* Anorisaki Lighthouse - Shima, Mie
* Ogijima Lighthouse - Seto Inland Sea, Kagawa
* Hiyoriyama Lighthouse - Otaru, Hokkaido
Legacy
The highly-popular film has been remade three times for Japanese television, and in 1986 Kinoshita himself reworked it as 'Big Joys, Small Sorrows', the Western version of its actual title (), which translates roughly as 'New Times of Joy and Sorrow'.
Its rousing, eponymous theme song was a major hit for Akira Wakayama and became a cultural touchstone of 1950s Japan.
In 1993 a statue depicting the movie's two stars in an iconic pose from publicity materials was erected at Hajikizaki Lighthouse on Sato Island, one of the filming sites, as a tribute to lighthouse staff nationwide.
Availability
Although the film has not been released on disc or for streaming in the United States, Kinoshita's remake 'Big Joys, Small Sorrows' was among the inaugural films available in Spring 2019 for streaming on The Criterion Channel.
References
Buy Times of Joy and Sorrow now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1957