Times of Joy and Sorrow


Times of Joy and Sorrow, also titled The Lighthouse in the UK, is a 1957 Japanese drama film written and directed by Keisuke Kinoshita.

Plot

In 1932, a young lighthouse keeper returns from his father's funeral with a new bride, who quickly learns the importance of the marital bond to members of her husband's profession, which is often characterized by the hardships of physical isolation and sudden reassignment. Over the next 25 years they transfer to ten different lighthouses throughout Japan, raising two children and befriending multiple colleagues and their families. They endure wartime attacks on the strategically relevant lighthouses as well as a tragedy involving one of their children, ultimately celebrating the other's marriage and settling together into middle age.

Cast

Featured Lighthouses

The film was shot on location at 10 different lighthouses throughout Japan, including opening scenes at Kannonzaki, the site of the country's first lighthouse.

Legacy

Times of Joy and Sorrow has been remade three times for Japanese television, and in 1986 Kinoshita himself reworked it as Big Joys, Small Sorrows.
In 1993 a statue depicting the movie's two stars in an iconic pose from publicity materials was erected at Hajikizaki Lighthouse on Sato Island, one of the filming sites, as a tribute to lighthouse staff nationwide.

Home media

Although the film has not been released on disc or for streaming in the United States, Kinoshita's remake Big Joys, Small Sorrows was among the inaugural films available in Spring 2019 for streaming on The Criterion Channel.