Every-Night Dreams

Omitsu (Sumiko Kurishima) works nights as a bar hostess in Depression-era Tokyo, raising her young son Fumi (Teruko Kojima) alone, until her ex-husband Mizuhara (Tatsuo Saitō), who left her years ago, comes back. Mikio Naruse's silent drama follows a household built on small wages and long hours, now with a man who has to be reckoned with. Underneath it sits a plain question of what a mother owes her child when the money won't stretch.