Yasuzo Masumura - Kisses (1957)

Akiko and Kinichi meet in prison where they both visit their father. Kinichi has to come up with 100,000 yen to post bail for his dad. Akiko also needs 100,000 in order to pay the clinic where her mother is being treated for TB. They bet on a bike race and win a significant sum that they immediately spend the same afternoon on food, drinks and various activities. When Akiko asks the rebellious Kinichi to confess his love for her, the young man refuses and leaves her.

Yasuzo Masumura's directorial debut is a terrific film and a fierce critic of the postwar obsession with financial success and economic profitability. It seems that every verbal exchange in the movie ends up being about money or financial issues of some sorts. Relationships are defined in economic terms, characters seek each other out in order to address financial issues.

It is no wonder then that Masumura paints such a world in rather grim strokes. Both Akiko and Kinichi are being told over the course of the film that they are not valuable enough to deserve to get money. When Kinichi asks his mother to lend him the 100,000 yen to bail out his father, she tells him: "first grow up to be precious." Akiko plays with the idea of prostitution and asks a colleague if she could ask for 100,000 yen for one night. The answer: "not even you are worth that much!"

The fact that Akiko wants to hear from Kinichi that he loves her has nothing to do with romanticism or sentimentality. She simply has the wish to be judged in non-economical terms. But in such a market-driven and profitability-centered world, such things have no place. In this sense, it is no wonder that when we first meet and last see Akiko (after Kinichi finally confesses his love for her), she is crying.

The black and white photography is gorgeous. A highly recommended film.