Oshimai No Hi (1999)

Genres - Comedy Drama  |   Sub-Genres - Marriage Drama, Romantic Drama  |   Run Time - 118 min.  |   Countries - Japan  |  
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Synopsis by Mark Deming

Japanese filmmaker Takumi Kimizuka directed this darkly comic look at the sordid underside of a supposedly happy marriage. Mitsuko (Nae Yuki) and Haru are a young couple who live a life of bourgeois respectability in a clean, modern home in a good neighborhood. But Haru has overextended himself financially to buy this house, and he works long hours as an insurance salesman, hoping to earn enough to keep himself afloat in the wake of an economic downturn. His main source of solace is alcohol, and he usually comes home late at night and quite drunk. Mitsuko fares little better; she wants to be the perfect wife with a clean house, beautiful garden, and dinner on the table when her hubby wants it. But Mitsuko is convinced that Haru is working himself to death and keeps a close watch on his health, while she has no one for companionship while Haru is away but a stray cat she's trapped in a ball of wire. Mitsuko becomes reacquainted with an old friend from school, Kumi; Kumi's marriage also has problems, as she wants to have a baby but her sex life with her husband is not at all satisfying. Mitsuko discovers she's pregnant, and Haru starts coming home earlier and spending more time with her, but what at first seems like an upturn in their marriage soon proves to be the beginning of the end. Takumi Kimizuka based his screenplay on a novel by Motoko Maeda.

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Keywords

alcoholism, cat, friendship, husband-and-wife, insurance-agent, marital-problems, pregnancy