Suzaki Paradaisu: Akashingô

Recently laid off of his job and unable to find suitable employment, a young man by the name of "Yoshiji" (Tatsuya Mihashi) has lost all confidence in himself along with the respect of his wife "Tsutae" (Michiyo Aratama) as well. To that effect, as they wander the streets with no money, Tsutae considers returning to her former occupation as a prostitute but takes a job at a waitress in a small bar instead. At the same time, Yoshiji also finds employment delivering noodles for a small restaurant not too far from where Tsutae works. But even then, their menial jobs aren't enough to make either of them happy and, as a result, Tsutae abandons Yoshiji in favor of an older man with more money. Needless to say, this has a devasting impact on Yoshiji but, as it turns out, he isn't the only one impacted by this decision. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a decent drama which depended heavily upon the economic conditions of Japan during this particular time in history. So, in that regard, it's a bit dated. Additionally, even though both Tatsuya Mihashi and Michiyo Aratama played their parts quite well, there really wasn't enough passion or excitement to really make this film stand out from so many other Japanese movies of this type. At least, I didn't think so. Having said that, however, I still thought it was entertaining, to a certain degree, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.