Forget Love for Now

A single mother turned bar hostess struggles to raise her son in the face of social condemnation and economic exploitation in this major rediscovery of not only the films of Hiroshi Shimizu, but also Japanese cinema and prewar film noir. Shimizu eschews his usual location shooting in favor of creating an entirely set-bound realm of shadows and fading light, with characters framed within sinister alleyways, Art Deco nightclubs, or—even more dangerously—children’s playgrounds. The aesthetic of a fog-drenched noir combines with commentary on Japanese family honor and maternal duty, but the film’s most surprising element is how contemporary it feels today, with Shimizu often pausing the storytelling to simply observe the character’s lives. Lead actress Michiko Kuwano was a constant presence in many Shimizu films, and she is a revelation here; she tragically passed away only four years after this film was made, at the age of thirty-one.