Synopsis
Kenya and Satoko, a married couple in Tokyo owned a small izakaya, a Japanese style pub. Their life was not easy but happy. One day because of a fire, they lost everything. The two could not give up their dreams to own their own izakaya again, and started to save the money. Their choice of how to save the money was to act “marriage fraud” together.

Program Note
Dreams for Sale , the fourth feature film of NISHIKAWA Miwa, who is widely known for her work Sway, involves a couple who engage in marriage scams and the women who fall victim to their deception. Kanya drifts around after a fire destroys everything he had built running a bar with his wife. One day he comes across Reiko, one of his former regulars, and they spend a night together. Upon learning about his troubled situation, Reiko gives him money for his recovery. This outrages Satoko, Kanya’s wife, but at the same time she immediately realizes that this will be seed money to help them restore what they have lost. Now the couple plays a pair of siblings and begins marriage scams by taking advantage of Satoko’s willing cooperation and Kanya’s signature friendliness. The female victims always feel lonely in a city of anonymity, and the desperate efforts of the couple who just want to run their own bar are portrayed as black comedy. However, the couple’s advance toward their dream at the expense of others’ comes to a halt just a step short of success. The crack of their relationship forebodes a stern conclusion, as in the director’s earlier works that showed no mercy to the characters’ careless behavior. MATSU Takako, who plays the wife Satoko, again features warm yet chillingly calm expressions following her role as a cold-blooded woman in Confessions . [LEE Jee-heng]