Big Joys, Small Sorrows

Big Joys, Small Sorrows (新・喜びも悲しみも幾歳月, Shin Yorokobi mo Kanashimi mo Ikutoshitsuki) is a 1986 Japanese film directed by Keisuke Kinoshita, revisiting his melancholic earlier work, Times of Joy and Sorrow (1957), of a lighthouse keeper and the transient lifestyle he and his family endure. Shot at 10 different lighthouses, four temples, and various scenic locations (including two of the famous Three Views of Japan (日本三景)), spanning the length of Japan from Kyushu to Hokkaido, the film serves a secondary purpose as an insightful time capsule travelogue of early 1980s Japan.[1][2] It is Kinoshita's 48th[3] and last film.[4]

Big Joys, Small Sorrows
Japanese poster for Big Joys, Small Sorrows
Kanji新・喜びも悲しみも幾歳月
Directed byKeisuke Kinoshita
Written byKeisuke Kinoshita
Produced byShochiku
StarringGo Kato, Reiko Ohara
CinematographyKozo Okazaki
Music byChuji Kinoshita
Release date
  • June 28, 1986 (1986-06-28)
Running time
130 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Box office¥395 million

Plot

Fujita, a lighthouse keeper of the Maritime Safety Agency, prepares to transfer to another lighthouse as his father and a young protege drop in to see him off, identifying what will be a story told over the course of a decade from the perspectives of 3 generations of a family, and their evolving relationships with each other. The film follows the family through their trials and tribulations as Fujita transfers to different lighthouses during the course of his career, the children grow up and leave the family to go to school and start their own families, the father rejoins the family as his health fails and is unable to care for himself, and they learn the value of family and each day spent together.[5]

Cast

Production

Kinoshita based the script to his earlier film, Times of Joy and Sorrow, on an article written by Tanaka Kiyo, the wife of a lighthouse keeper at the Shioyazaki lighthouse in Fukushima. The plot of Times of Joy and Sorrow encompasses the militarization of Japan during World War 2, and involves a sense of futility as the lighthouse is darkened during the war and bombs explode outside the family home. These themes are absent in Big Joys, Small Sorrow, which speaks to the increased optimism and prosperity of Japan in the 1980s, as well as the frustration felt by Fujita's wife Asako, who is more able to express her thoughts regarding her life as the wife of a lighthouse keeper rather than dutifully accepting her fate in Times of Joy and Sorrow.[5][6]

The film received support from the then Maritime Safety Agency, since renamed the Japan Coast Guard, and serves as a tribute to the agency with unprecedented access not only to the lighthouses, but a Bell 212 helicopter, the Kure Maritime Safety University, aboard ships such as the Zao (PLH-05) and Teshio (PM-03 & PM-09) class patrol vessels, the Kojima (PL-21) training vessel[7] during a fleet review, as well as a generous plug for All Nippon Airways, creating a "gorgeous travelogue," said Los Angeles Times film critic Kevin Thomas, of the "unspoiled beauty spots on Japan’s coastlines".[8]

Big Joys, Small Sorrows is located in Japan
Tango
Tango
Izu
Izu
Goto
Goto
Hiroshima
Hiroshima
Bungo
Bungo
Hachijojima
Hachijojima
Shimokita
Shimokita
Hakodate
Hakodate
The wide range of filming locations

Lighthouses

Other points of interest

Release

Screened in competition at the Locarno Film Festival,[9] Big Joys, Small Sorrows was theatrically released internationally in 1986 by Shochiku, earning a modest ¥395 million. VHS and Laserdisc editions are now scarce, however region 2 DVDs are still available in Japan from Shochiku Home Entertainment.[10]

The Criterion Channel included Big Joys, Small Sorrows among the inaugural films available for streaming upon its launch in Spring 2019.[11]

Reception

Kevin Thomas, in his review for the Los Angeles Times found the film was "a charmingly apt title for an unabashedly sentimental and old-fashioned paean to the enduring virtues of family life" but that it could not be deemed "more than a minor work of a major director, considered as one of his country’s greatest film makers."[3]

Awards

List of awards and nominations
Award/Film festival Ceremony Category Recipient Result
Japan Academy Film Prize[12] 10th Japan Academy Awards Best Picture Big Joys, Small Sorrows Nominated
Screenplay of the Year Keisuke Kinoshita Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Hitoshi Ueki Won
Best Supporting Actress Misako Konno Nominated
Kinema Junpo Film Awards[13] 60th Kinema Junpo Film Awards Best Supporting Actor Hitoshi Ueki Won
Fumiko Yamaji Film Award[14] 11th Fumiko Yamaji Film Awards 1st Actress Award Reiko Ohara Won
Mainichi Film Awards[15] 41st Mainichi Film Awards Best Supporting Actor Hitoshi Ueki Won

References
  1. "新・喜びも悲しみも幾歳月 (Big Joys, Small Sorrows)". Blowin' In The Wind (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  2. "新・喜びも悲しみも幾歳月 (Big Joys, Small Sorrows)". 映画の時間 (Movie Jorudan) (in Japanese). Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  3. Thomas, Kevin (1986-07-18). "MOVIE REVIEWS : A PAEAN TO OLD-FASHIONED FAMILY LIFE". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
  4. Bernardi, Joanne; Ogawa, Shota T. (2020-08-09). Routledge Handbook of Japanese Cinema. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-53435-0.
  5. "新・喜びも悲しみも幾歳月 (Big Joys, Small Sorrows)". cinemaclassics.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  6. "Times of Joy and Sorrow (1957)". JAPANONFILM. 26 July 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  7. "Successive "Kojima" stories". Japan Coast Guard Academy. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  8. Thomas, Kevin (18 July 1986). "A Paean to Old-Fashioned Family Life". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  9. "Awards & Festivals". mubi.com. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  10. "新・喜びも悲しみも幾歳月(DVD) (Big Joys, Small Sorrows DVD)". shochiku-home-enta.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  11. "Big Joys, Small Sorrows". The Criterion Channel. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  12. "Japan Academy Film Prize". japan-academy-prize.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  13. "Kinema Junpo 1987 Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  14. "Past winners". Fumiko Yamaji Cultural Foundation (in Japanese). Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  15. "List of past awards". mainichi.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 6 June 2021.
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