Name: Different Sons
Released: 1962
Duration: 1 min 35 s
Cast: Akira Takarada, Yuzo Kayama, Kamatari Fujiwara, Yuko Mochizuki, Yumi Shirakawa

Cast & Crew

Film Details

Also Known As

Futari no musuko

Release Date

Jan 1962

Premiere Information

Los Angeles opening: 19 Oct 1962

Production Company

Toho Co.

Country

Japan

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 35m

Synopsis

Kensuke has been nearly disowned by his parents because he married a bar hostess. He has a fine job with a good future, however, and lives in middle class surroundings. His parents, younger brother Shoji, and sister Noriko live in poverty, fighting over the occasional egg on the dinner table. The father finally loses his job and cannot find work. It is now the duty of the children to provide for their parents. Kensuke, bitter because of his rejection, suggests they go to an old age home, but Shoji takes out a loan and becomes a taxi driver to support the family, even though he, too, is bitter at not having been sent to college as was his brother. Noriko, who had been the beloved of a janitor, begins seeing a widowed executive from Kensuke's firm, as urged on by her brother. When he asks her to marry him, Noriko drops the janitor in hopes of a better station in life. Shoji, now working 15 hours a day, wrecks his cab while driving a prostitute home and is threatened by a large lawsuit. His brother does not come to the aid of the family, even now. Further tragedy strikes as Noriko's former suitor, the janitor, arranges her death: she is run over by a train. The father is overwhelmed and tries to kill himself, stopped only by his wife. Kensuke, after being accused of causing all of the family's problems, agrees to help out and gives monetary aid.