Lovely. Spartan in its sets, the movie keeps centre stage a small cast of characters. The lead actress won over my heart right away - a gentle, beautiful bar girl in post war Tokyo who maintains a graceful dignity in a difficult profession. She copes with demanding employers, unscrupulous rivals, and a family that depends on her. The movie deals in well known tropes - rich but lonely old men bored with their wives and seeking out the company of vivacious young girls in a night district. And yet, not for a single scene felt sleazy or gratuitous. There is an underlying sadness, a sense of the bar girl being hopelessly trapped. And yet the last scene was uplifting. After being tricked by a womaniser, and then taken to bed forcibly by a besotted lover, she comports herself with great dignity as she comes to bid farewell to this lover and his family at the train station (he avoids looking at her out of shame and embarrassment), and then returns to her life with a brave smile.
