It's a Flickering Life

Go is an old man. In his youth he worked at a film studio. He wanted to be a director. In those days he was among big names. Now he lives with gambling debts. His wife Yoshiko and his daughter Ayumu have covered for him many times. In the end they stop paying. His wife takes the money in hand. Go goes back to his old friend Terashin, who runs a small cinema. The film moves along two timelines, one in the present and one in his younger years, and the two run into each other towards the end. The story comes from a novel by Maha Harada. The film was made for the centenary of the Shochiku studio. Ken Shimura had first been cast in the lead. He died of the coronavirus while shooting was under way and the part went to Kenji Sawada. Masaki Suda and Mei Nagano also appear in the hundred and twenty five minute film, a Japanese production Yoji Yamada finished in 2021.