is a 1959 Japanese

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

Shōhei Imamura was a Japanese film director. His main interest as a filmmaker lay in the depiction of the lower strata of Japanese society. A key figure in the Japanese New Wave, who continued working into the 21st century, Imamura is the only director from J ...

. The screenplay is based on the diary of ten-year-old

zainichi () are ethnic Koreans who immigrated to Japan before 1945 and are citizens or permanent residents of Japan, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South Korean nationals who have immigrated to Japan since t ...

(ethnic Korean Japanese) Sueko Yasumoto, which became a bestseller upon publication.

Plot

The film tells the story of four orphans living in an impoverished mining town.

Cast

Hiroyuki Nagato , stage name of Akio Kato (加藤晃夫), was a Japanese actor. He starred in ''Season of the Sun'', '' Endless Desire'', '' My Second Brother'', '' Stolen Desire'', and ''Sukeban Deka'', and ''Yo-Yo Girl Cop''. Life and career Nagato was born ...

as Kiichi Yasumoto, eldest brother *

Kayo Matsuo is a Japanese actress. Filmography Films * '' Endless Desire'' (1958) * '' My Second Brother'' (1959) – Yoshiko Yasumoto * ''High Teen Yakuza'' (1962) – Keiko Nakagawa * ''Aoi sanmyaku'' (1963) – Kuko * '' Hikaru umi'' (1963) – Eiko ...

as Yoshiko, eldest sister * Takeshi Okimura as Kōichi, second brother * Akiko Maeda as Sueko, younger sister *

Kō Nishimura was a Japanese actor. Known in the Western world, West primarily for supporting roles in such films as Akira Kurosawa's ''The Bad Sleep Well'' and ''Yojimbo (film), Yojimbo'', Kihachi Okamoto's ''Sword of Doom'', Yoshitaro Nomura's ''Zero Focus ...

as Gorō Mitamura * Yoshio Ōmori as Seki *

Toshio Takahara was a Japanese actor. Notable film appearances were ''Seven Samurai'' and ''Twenty-Four Eyes''. He is also known for his role as Commander Gonpachi Edogawa in the tokusatsu superhero series ''Himitsu Sentai Gorenger''. He started his acting c ...

as shop assistant (bicycle shop) *

Taiji Tonoyama was a Japanese character actor who made many appearances in films and on television from 1939 to 1989. He was a close friend of Kaneto Shindo and one of his regular cast members. He was also an essayist. In 1950 he helped form the film company ...

as Gengorō Henmi *

Shinsuke Ashida was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1952 and 1996. Selected filmography Film * '' Gendai-jin'' (1952) * '' Mahiru no ankoku'' (1956) * ''An Actress'' (1956) * '' Underworld Beauty'' (1958) * '' Arashi no naka o tsup ...

as Sakai *

Kazuko Yoshiyuki (born 9 August 1935) is a Japanese actress, voice actress and essayist. Biography Early life Kazuko was born in Tokyo as a first daughter of Eisuke Yoshiyuki, a writer, and Aguri. She has an older brother, Junnosuke Yoshiyuki, a novelist, an ...

as Kanako Hori *

Shōichi Ozawa was a Japanese actor, radio host, singer, and prominent researcher and expert on Japanese folk art. He also founded the Shabondama-za theater company. Ozawa, who was born in Tokyo, graduated from Waseda University. He began acting after college ...

as Haruo Kanayama *

Natsuko Kahara was a Japanese stage and film actress. She was a member of the Bungakuza theatre company and regularly appeared in the films of director Mikio Naruse. During her 50 years spanning career, she also worked for directors such as Yasujirō Ozu, Akir ...

as Kanako's mother

Reception

Film scholar Alexander Jacoby called ''My Second Brother'' an "uncharacteristically tender film" for the director.

Awards

Mainichi Film Award The are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by ''Mainichi Shimbun'' (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of t ...

– Best Supporting Actress (Kanako Hori), Best Sound (Fumio Hashimoto) *

Blue Ribbon Awards The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan, established in 1950 by , established under the name of the "Association of Tokyo Film Journalists Award", which was formed mainly by film reporters from th ...

– Best Actor (Hiroyuki Nagato), Best Supporting Actor (Shōichi Ozawa)

References

External links

* * 1959 films 1959 drama films Japanese drama films Japanese black-and-white films Films directed by Shohei Imamura Nikkatsu films Films with screenplays by Ichirô Ikeda 1950s Japanese films Films scored by Toshiro Mayuzumi Films about Zainichi Korean people 1950s Japanese-language films {{1950s-Japan-film-stub