Bread of Happiness – Shiawase no pan (2012)

Directed by: Yukiko Mishima | 114 minutes | drama | Actors: Tomoyo Harada, Yô Ôizumi, Morio Agata, Yûta Hiraoka, Riki Honda, Nobue Iketani, Kenta Imanishi, Reika Kirishima, Ken Mitsuishi, Kanna Mori, Katsuo Nakamura, Yasuhi Nakamura, Maki Shinta, Atsuko Tanaka, Misako Wat Yagi, Kimiko Yo

Rie (Tomoyo Harada) and Sang leave busy Tokyo to start a small bakery and cafe in Hokkaido. In addition to a number of regular guests, guests pass by sporadically who are proverbially shaken awake by the stay of Rie’s bakery and dare to face their personal problems. Rie and Sang try to guide their guests in this as well as possible by simply listening to them and presenting a different bread or snack for every occasion.

‘Bread of Happiness’ by director Yukiko Mishima is a very sweet Japanese drama that remains interesting throughout the runtime because of the ambiguities surrounding main character Rie. Why did she really leave for Hokkaido with Sang? Whether this is clear or not, it doesn’t matter in ‘Bread of Happiness’, because it is the personal stories of the visitors that are elaborated while the background information of the owners of the bakery and the regulars always remains somewhat underexposed. . The film is structured in four segments, the seasons. Every season there is a new story about visitors and the life of Rie is the common thread. In addition to these various stories – about the problems between a young girl and her father after her mother’s departure, two elderly people who go out together after so many years and a young lady who is not very happy in love – there is always Rie’s love for a children’s book and how she identifies with it.

It is clear that ‘Bread of Happiness’ is about a bakery. Your mouth will water more than once when you see the different delicious ways in which bread is presented. However sweet it may all sound and in fact is, the characters in the film all remain fairly sober. This makes ‘Bread of Happiness’ a real feel-good production, but fortunately the film does not go too far. The drama is real and not too far-fetched. Tomoyo Harada in particular plays a beautiful role and binds the viewer with the mystery surrounding her person.

‘Bread of Happiness’ can come across as a no-brainer, but it does look good and at times manages to strike the right chord of everyday yet so important human emotions.