This is a heart-warming traditional drama directed by director Katsuhito Ishii, renowned for his films rich in individuality including The Taste of Tea. This film, a remake of the film by the great director Hiroshi Shimizu at the beginning of the Japanese film history, is set in a small hot spring region, and it focuses on three characters - a mysterious woman from Tokyo, a man with a nephew, and a blind masseur - as their stories unfold through amusing incidents. The masseur, portrayed by Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, feels love towards the woman from Tokyo, but he suspects that she is the thief in a burglary that took place at the inn. The woman meets a man at the hot springs and as the man is attracted to her, he cannot leave her easily. As the characters, each with peculiar traits, share their story, summer passes by at the hot springs. The tempo and the rhythm of the laughter, the way the story unfolds, and the frequently spoken line ‘Is that so?’ satisfactorily conveys the same kind of attraction that Japanese movie had before the war. Should the audiences feel certain warmth as they watch these slowly paced incidents and amusing characters, then it is because director Ishii succeeded in directing this film, which can be viewed as a greater experiment than his previous works. (KWON Young-min)