My Second Brother

The film is set in a mining town. The town is poor and the work is drying up. Four children are left without parents. They are close in age. The eldest tries to look after the others. There is no money and little food. Neighbours help them at times. At other times doors close. The children hold out against being split up. The family is a Korean family living in Japan. This community, known as zainichi, meets with discrimination. The film was adapted from a book. The book rests on the diary of a ten year old girl. It is among the early films to take up zainichi identity. Hiroyuki Nagato and Kayo Matsuo appear in the one hundred one minute film, a Japanese production Shōhei Imamura finished in 1959.