Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2012

Though Japanese film has hit a kind of lull since an intense burst of creative energy in the early 1990s, there have been a few bright spots to emerge recently. One of the most luminescent over the past six years has been Miwa Nishikawa. A former assistant director for the great filmmaker (and Cannes prize-winner) Hirokazu Koreeda, all Nishikawa’s films have been sharp psychological studies that leave some ambiguity and the final verdict up to the viewer. The present work is no exception.

The young couple Kanya (Sadao Abe) and Satoko (Takako Matsu) run a small izakaya and live comfortably. When it burns to the ground their livelihoods are thrown into question. Shaken, Kanya goes out and comes home with a bag of cash that Satoko soon discovers he got by sleeping with a regular. As these small bar-restaurants are often inhabited by unhappy young and middle-aged woman the couple start to make a business of deceiving these lasses and getting Kanya to bilk them of money through sex.

The toll this scheme takes on their marriage and the desperate women involved are brilliantly sketched in this parable for modern Japan. A must-see. English title: Dreams for Sale (137 min)