“Marx was a fantastic actor,” Sadie defended him.

“He’s better at what he’s doing now,” Watanabe-san insisted.

Sadie and Marx took a cab back to the hotel. “Do you mind what your father said?” she asked him.

“No,” Marx said. “I loved being a student actor. I was fully devoted to it, and now I’m not. I think if I’d become a professional, I would likely have fallen out of love with it anyway. It isn’t a sadness, but a joy, that we don’t do the same things for the length of our lives.”