Farewell to Dream

Farewell to Dream is told mostly in flashback, starting and closing with the protagonist, Yoishi, now 20 years old, looking out into the distance and musing about how his dreams of becoming a sailor will never come true. The main part of the film focuses on events when Yoichi is about 16. His father's death has forced him to take over the family's struggling fishmonger shop, and although he becomes more successful than his father, it is not how he wants to spend his life. In the meantime, Yoichi's older sister takes selfish actions which damage the family. Other disappointments Yoichi faces include his best friend moving away, and his imagined romance with a woman he watches from his room via binoculars never coming to fruition.[2][3]

Michael Kienzl comments on Critic.de that "Kinoshita relies less on emotional outbursts than on quiet touching moments." He gives as an example the farewell scene between Yoichi and his best friend, in which the tragedy of their parting is conveyed through close-ups of their touching feet and a long handshake.[3] Turner Classic Movies' Rob Nixon draws attention to the beginning framing scene, in which Yoichi's being hemmed in by his circumstances is reflected in the mise-en-scène which shows Yoichi in a narrow frame between two buildings.[2]

Yoshiko Kuga, who played Yoishi's older sister, won the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Farewell to Dream and two other films. Eijirō Tōno, who played Yoishi's father, won the Mainichi Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in this film and in Yoru no kawa.[4]

• Farewell to Dream at IMDb
• Farewell to Dream at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)
• "夕やけ雲 (Farewell to Dream)". Shochiku Cinema Classics (in Japanese). Retrieved 30 January 2021.