Till We Meet Again

Set in Japan during the Second World War, Saburo (OKADA Eiji) and Keiko (KUGA Yoshiko) meet for the first time on a underground platform while air raid sirens go off in the streets above them. Amidst the jostling throngs of people, their fingers touch – marking their first beautiful encounter. Having lost one brother in the war and seeing his other brother and father support militarism, Saburo, a reluctant war supporter, finds himself cornered until he falls for Keiko, a poor but cheerful young artist. As the war reaches a grim milestone and the country desperately shoves more and more of its young people to the front, Saburo soon receives a call-up notice which threatens the prospects of the two lovers…

A wartime romance depicting an achingly beautiful juxtaposition of the brutality of war with sentimental love. Deemed as a major success from both an artistic and financial perspective, Saburo and Keiko’s farewell kiss remains one of the most iconic scenes in the history of Japanese cinema. IMAI Tadashi’s tragic romance was considered for Japan’s submission to the Venice Film Festival in 1951, but ultimately lost out to Rashomon.