Yasujiro Ozu

The silent Tokyo No Korasu/ Tokyo Chorus (1931) is a domestic film that investigates the ordinary life of an ordinary family via both comic and tragic scenes. It feels like a slightly fictionalized documentary. A moustached teacher inspects men of various ages in uniform. One of them is a clownish kid who repeatedly upsets the teacher. Years later the young man, Okajima, is married with three children and works in for an insurance company. His son wants a bicycle, knowing that Okajima is about to get his yearly bonus. All the other children have a bicycle. The boss hands out the bonuses to anxious employees who form a line outside his office. They keep their bonus secret although they can't wait to open the envelop and see the number. One of them does so in the restrooms and the envelop drops in the urinal. There is only one man who is unhappy: a middle-aged coworker who is about to be fired because two of his clients have died just after buying an insurance policy. Okajima thinks that the workers should stand up and defend the poor man, but nobody else is willing to complain with the boss so Okajima walks into the boss' office by himself and confronts the boss. The argument between the two escalates to the point that they push each other, and eventually the boss fires Okajima. He can't buy his son a bicycle anymore, so he buys him a smaller toy, but the child, who had already told the other children that he was getting a bicycle better than theirs, is offended. His mother sides with him, scolding the husband for not keep his promise. Then Okajima shows her the letter that he has been fired. Nonetheless the parents decide to buy the child a bike. Okajima can't find a job because his degree makes him overqualified. He meets the middle-aged man who has found a job, but feels humiliated because it's a low level job. His son is playing with other children in a mudpool. The boy tells him that his sister is sick. Okajima rushes home and finds the girl in bed. His wife is afraid of taking her to the hospital because it would cost too much, but Okajima does not hesitate and everybody goes to the hospital with the girl. His wife stays at the hospital. She is worried that they cannot pay the bill. Okajima and his son return home. Days later they pick up the girl, who is now healed, and return home in a festive mood. The man plays with his children. His wife finds out how he paid the medical bills: he sold her kimonos. She is moved to tears watching the man play with the children. On the way back from yet another failed job interview, Okajima meets his old moustached teacher, who is now the owner of a restaurant and gladly offers him a job: it's the same humiliating job that the middle-aged coworker had to take: walking around town carrying a big sign that publicizes the restaurant. Her wife and the children saw him pass by, and she is ashamed. At home she confronts him. He blushes but admits that it's the only job he could find, and they need the money. They go to sleep speechless. Endorsing a Okajima suggetion, the old teacher calls for a reunion dinner of the Okajima's class in the restaurant. The men assemble around a table and enjoy food, drinks and company. The dinner is interrupted by the delivery of a letter. The teacher reads it and hands it over to Okajima: it's a job offer. They are looking for a teacher in a remote village. Okajima and his wife are not excited at the idea of moving far away, but they realize it's the sensible thing to do. They rejoin the party where the former students stand up and sing along a happy song. Nostalgia brings tears to the teacher and Okajima but sooon they both join the choir.

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2. Umarete wa mita keredo Il film con cui Ozu stabilisce la sua reputazione di menestrello della vita familiare della classe media è una commedia malinconica che segue Chaplin e anticipa DeSica: Umarete Wa Mita Keredo/ I Was Born But (1932). Un carro stipato di mobili attraversa la desolata periferia di una città. È il trasloco di una famiglia, composta da un padre, di professione impiegato, e dai suoi due bambini, che si stabilisce nello stesso palazzo del principale. La famiglia è molto unita e vive, d'amore e d'accordo, pur nell'umiltà imposta dalle limitate risorse economiche del padre. I bambini devono vedersela a scuola con altri bambini prepotenti, e vincono grazie all'aiuto di un ragazzo piu` grande. Uno dei loro amici e` il figlio del principale del loro padre: i bambini fanno a gara a sostenere il proprio padre. Ma un giorno i bambini scoprono che il padre, del quale hanno sempre avuto una grande stima, ha accettato di fare il buffone per un filmino casalingo del principale. Ne sono tanto umiliati che rifiutano di mangiare e tengono il muso per tutto il giorno. Alla fine si riconciliano. L'indomani i due bambini incoraggiano il padre a salutare il boss che sta aspettando con la limousine a un passaggio ferroviario. Il boss invita il padre in auto, mentre il bambino del boss scende e si aggrega ai bambini del padre. I tre bambini si avviano insieme, riconoscendo a vicenda che il padre degli altri e` tanto importante quanto il proprio. La critica sociale, in linea con il contemporaneo filone del film ideologico, passa in secondo piano rispetto alla crisi familiare ingenerata dalla rivelazione traumatica che il loro dignitoso padre è un disgraziato come tanti che, per sopravvivere, deve scendere ogni giorno a umilianti compromessi. E, tra le righe, si intuisce che quei bambini ribelli sono destinati a diventare un giorno servili come il padre. His first sound film was Mata au hi Made/ Until the Day We Meet Again (1932), followed by Tokyo no Onna/ Tokyo Woman (1933) e Hijosen no Onna/ Dragnet Girl (1933).   3. Toda-ke no Kyodai   Dekigokoro (1933) e Ukigusa Monogatari/ Floating Weeds (1934) indugiano ancora sui rapporti fra padre e figlio, il primo mostrando l'effetto benefico della compagnia di un figlio, delle sue innocenti e ingenue inesperienze, il secondo, ambientato fra i guitti, mostrando invece l'effetto deprimente della separazione dal figlio (seppure illegittimo).

The silent film Dekigokoro/ Passing Fancy (1933) abandoned the theme of young people starting a life and focused on the ordinary struggles of poor families led by middle-aged parents. In this case it is also the portrait of a man torn by existential fatigue, who has principles to follow but doesn't seem to believe in them all that much. Ozu concocts an acrobatic mix of comedy and melodrama A group of low-class men and women are sitting in a room and listening to a narrative ballad about the true love of a geisha. A man tries to wake up his child who is bored into sleep. The man notices a coin purse that someone lost, and at first takes it, but then puts it back on the floor, and finally empties it into his own purse (a metaphor for his indecisive philosophy of life). He then throws it away. Several other people see it and pass it around involuntarily until it gets back to the man who lost it in the first place, except that now it's empty. Meanwhile some ferocious fleas are attacking the audience and men start jumping up and down, disrupting the performance (a metaphor for how turbulent their humble life can be). The man who took the coins is Kihachi, and the child is Tomio, his only child (who has a patch on one eye). As he walks out of the room carrying his sleepy child on his shoulders, he is attracted to a young pretty and shy girl who played in the performance. She doesn't say a word to him, and his friend tells him to leave her alone. They meet her again later and this time she tells Kihachi that she has just lost her job and doesn't have any family. He replies that he has no wife and invites her to stay with them, despite the reproaches of his friend Jiro. The following morning the child, Tomio, hits his dad with a stick to wake him up so he won't be late for work. He then wears his uniform and walks to school, proud to be a good student and a good son. When the dad gets up, he learns that the good old woman who runs the restaurant, Otome, likes the new girl, Harue, and has given her a job. Kihachi works at a brewery with Jiro. He spends the day fantasying about Harue, who reminds him of his ex. Jiro reminds him that he is an "old man" and does not like Harue to start with. Kihachi takes a day off, wears his best kimono and approaches Harue at the restaurant. Later she plays with his son. She and the child then go to Jiro's room and clean it up. When Jiro arrives, he is not amused: he senses that Harue is in love with him, and tells her that she is making a fool of Kihachi. She responds that Kihachi is like an uncle to her, not like a husband. Later Otome asks to see Kihachi alone about Harue. Kihachi gets excited and sends his child to play outside (the child now has no patch on the eye anymore). Otome, however, wants to ask him something completely different: Harue is in love with Jiro, but Jiro seems to despise her, and Otome wants Kihachi to talk to him. Kihachi is hurt, but then accepts the mission. Jiro is stubborn and refuses to get married. Kihachi insists and the two get into an argument. From that day Kihachi becomes a different man: he drinks and skips work. Tomio is ashamed of his father when the other children make fun of him. At home Tomio, after crying alone, confronts his father and even beats him. Kihachi let Tomio punch him repeatedly in the head until the child bursts out crying. They hug, Kihachi asks to be forgiven and returns to his old good manners. The father is so happy that he gives Tomio a lot of money to spend whichever way he likes. Tomio buys a lot of candies and junk food and gets terribly sick. Jiro, who is still angry at Kihachi for their arguments over marrying Harue, leaves work and rushes to the house. He tells Kihachi that they need a doctor immediately. The doctor finds the child in critical conditions. Everybody helps: Harue behaves like a nurse to the child and the teacher comes to bring well-wishes from the other children. Kihachi doesn't have the money to pay the doctor's bills. Harue offers to find the money. Jiro is moved by Harue's kindness and confesses he loves her, but also scolds her for trying to make money too fast (implying that women who do that become prostitutes). Jiro visits his friend who is a barber and borrows the money, offering in exchange to travel to a distant place where workers are in high demand. When the child gets well, Kihachi learns that his friend is about to leave and then the barber tells him why. Kihachi immediately offers to take his place, so Jiro can stay and marry Harue. The barber is moved by the general kindness of these people, willing to sacrifice for each other, and would forgo the debt, but Kihachi has decided and takes off after admonishing his child to be a good student and don't eat too many candies. He takes a ship and starts chatting with the other migrant workers. He gets nostalgic about his son and decides to swim back home with a smile on his face. The silent movie Ukigusa Monogatari/ Floating Weeds (1934), remade in 1959, is the saga of an aging kabuki actor, condemned to his nomadic existence and to solitude, and revealed as a heroic father, not the libertine that people thought he was. In the middle of the night a train arrives carrying a merry troupe of kabuki actors, lead by the aging Kihachi. The troupe is returning to this town after several years. The troupe also features two actresses, first actress Otaka, who is in love with Kihachi, and the younger, cute Otoki. Kihachi visits his old middle-aged lover, Otsune, who bore a child of his and raised him by herself while running her modest restaurant. Shinkichi, now a young man and a bright student. The son has been raised thinking that his father died and that Kihachi is his uncle. Kihachi, who is a humble traveling actor, doesn't want to be an embarrassment in the boy's life and prefers to keep the secret. He confesses that he feels lonely, but he is resigned to that life. Father and so go fishing together. Meanwhile, the troupe is facing a crisis: the constant rain is keeping them from making any money. Otaka overhears the men gossiping about the leader's secret life, and eventually extorts a confession from the oldest one. On yet another rainy day Kihachi visits his son. While they are playing a game of go, Otaka pays an unexpected visit taking Otoki with her. Otaka is ready to make a scene and tell the truth in front of the young man but his mother drags him away and Kihachi kicks the intruder out, shouting at her that his son belongs to a better world than hers (therefore admitting that he has an illegitimate son and that Otsune is his mother). Back at the theater Otaka asks pretty Otoki to seduce Shinkichi. Otoki claims that she is not interested in "children" but Otaka offers her money. Otoki finds a way to meet him in the countryside and easily succeeds. They start seeing each other every day, secretely, and she falls in love for real, but she is painfully aware that they will have to part soon. She also tells him that she is not worthy of him and confesses that initially she just wanted to make a fool of him. Just when Otsune has convinced Kihachi to reveal his identity to his son, he catches the two lovers in a narrow alley. Then he waits for Otoki and confronts her, slapping her in the face, until she confesses the whole story. Kihachi, furious, summons Otaka and then beats her and insults her. Meanwhile his actors are penniless. Kihachi has no choice but to sell everything and pay off the actors, disbanding the troupe. The troupe gets together one last time, including a taciturn Otaka, they drink to the good old times, while thinking about future jobs. After parting with them, the leader visits Otsune one more time. Shinkichi has disappeared for the day and his mother doesn't know where he is. Kihachi is depressed, knowing that he is finished this time. He is ready to accept a regular sedentary family life with her and give up his nomadic life. Shinkichi brings Otoki home where Kihachi loses his temper and slaps both in the face. As the boy is about to hit the old man, his mother shouts at the boy that the old man is his father, but the boy refuses to accept him. She tries to justify the old man, who simply didn't want to be a bad influence on his son but always paid the bills for his education. Kihachi recognizes that the boy is right in not wanting a father who abandoned him, and the old man decides to leave, and before leaving he tells Otoki she has his approval. The old man leaves with a smile. Shinkichi comes back to make peace with the old man, but the old man is already heading for the train station, and his mother tells the boy not to stop him. The boy now cries bitter tears. At the train station he meets Otaka and they start planning a new theatrical venture. They share food and drink as they wait for the train. Haha wo Kowazuya/ A Mother Should be Loved (1934) His last silent film was Tokyo no Yado/ An Inn in Tokyo (1935). Ozu's second sound film, Hitori Musuko/ The Only Son (1936), centered on a mother's sacrifice for her son in line with the "hakamono" genre that was fashionable in the 1930s, de facto offers a pessimistic view of family life: tragedy is inherent in the relationship between parent and offspring, in the duties that bind one generation to the other. It flows in a desolate atmosphere, probably influenced by the economic crisis of the era. The first image is of a light bulb, probably symbolizing a humble lifestyle. Then we see women in traditional costumes walking down the street of a rural village. Then we see women working in a textile factory. A widow is struggling to raise her only son Ryosuke and he wants to go to high school, which will cost even more money. She initially opposes the idea but then realizes that it is necessary for his son not to fall behind the others. He promises to study hard. Years later he has graduated and found a job as a schoolteacher in the big city. His mother is an old woman who still works. Finally she decides to take a vacation and visit her son Ryosuke. They are happy to be reunited, but she soon learns that her son, now married with a child (something apparently he never told her), is struggling to pay his bills even if he lives in a humble house on the outskirts of the city. In fact, he has to borrow money to pay their meals now that mother is visiting. Ryosuke and his mother visit his old schoolteacher Okubo, who also moved to the city and is now a father of four. Ryosuke then takes his mother to a movie theater to watch a Western "talkie" (a self-referential scene, since this is Ozu's first talkie), but she falls asleep. The son takes his mother for a walk in a field nearby, from which they can see the incinerator that is burning the city's garbage. They sit down and chat. She tells him that she likes his wife Sugiko (who has gone out of her way to please the visitor). He admits that he has failed: he regrets moving to the big city. She confronts him at home telling him that he shouldn't give up: she sacrificed everything for him, and now she is reduced to living in a factory dormitory. Her super-humble daughter-in-law Sugiko overhears their conversation and weeps. One day granma is outside with her son's baby and meets the gay son of the neighbors. Sugiko sells her kimono so that her husband can take his mother somewhere fun, but he insists that she comes too. To impress the other children, the neighbor's lively son plays with a horse and eventually gets hurt. Ryosuke takes him to the hospital. The boy's mother is poor too and cannot afford the hospital's bill. Ryosuke does not hesitate and gives her the kimono money. Ryosuke's mother is proud of her son (not rich as she hoped, but a good human being). When the boy is released from hospital, still on crutches but on his way to full recovery, the old lady has already left (and has left behind a note with some money). Ryosuke is now determined to succeed, and Sugiko cries again. His mother is back in her hometown, washing the floors of the noisy assembly line. She lies to her coworker that her son has become an important man, and that the visit was a lot of fun. But then she hikes in the back of the building, among the garbage, so that nobody can see her grieve. Shukujo wa Nani o Wasureta Ka/ What Did the Lady Forget? (1937)

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Toda-ke no Kyodai/ Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1940) complica le situazioni base. La vedova e l'orfana di un industriale si trovano improvvisamente sulla strada e devono chiedere ospitalità ai parenti, che le sopportano di malumore. Ozu descrive il disagio delle due donne attraverso una serie di rituali familiari, per esempio l'esclusione da un "tea-party". Il ritorno del figlio soldato pone fine a questa umiliante situazione, ma genera un nuovo contrasto, questa volta fra la sorella, che spinge il fratello a sposarsi e questi non ne vuole sapere.

Chichi Ariki/ There was a Father (1942) is another bitter meditation on parental and filial duty like Only Son, but, after all, it has a happy ending: the father dies at the height of his happiness, having fulfilled the last of his obligations towards his son by finding him a good wife. At the same time, that is a sad ending for the son: he lived without either of his parents, he paid a price for his father's devotion, the price being the lifelong separation from him. The father is a math teacher. One day he announces that the class will travel to Tokyo and visit its main monuments. During the trip a boat capsizes and kills a boy. The teacher feels responsible and resigns. A single father after the death of his wife, the teacher takes his son Ryohei for a trip to his hometown. The child learns that grandfather sold his house in order to send his son (the child's father, the teacher) to school. The child is happy to live with his father in the ancestral hometown, but one day, while they are fishing, the teacher tells his son that he is starting a new job and he has decided to put him up in boarding school. The teacher moves to another city to work, because he can't make enough money to pay for a better school. The son is disappointed and cries because he was looking forward to summer vacation with his father. Years later the son graduates from high school. His father, the former teacher, now works for a big company in a high-rise building, surrounded by many other employees. More years pass by. His pastime is to play go in the evening and one evening he meets an old acquaintance, Hirata, who lives with his 21-years-old daughter Fumiko. By then the man's son has graduated from university and is about to start a job as a schoolteacher himself, whose schoolchildren dream of visiting home like he did as a schoolboy. Hardened by his own childhood, Ryohei doesn't allow them to take time off to visit their parents. Ryohei, instead, takes a vacation to visit his father, and tells him that he is grateful for everything the old man has done for him: he is thinking of quitting his job and moving to live near him. The father, instead of rejoicing, scolds him and tells him to fulfill his responsibility towards his schoolchildren. The father reassures the son that he is still in good health and can take care of himself. Two of his old students visit the former teacher and ask him to attend a reunion party. The son Ryohei happens to be home at that time. He witnesses in person how his father still pays his respects to his wife's ashes in the house. At the reunion the former students, now adults, reminisce about the past. Hirata is also there. All of the students are now married with children. They are impressed that the former teacher still leaves flowers on the grave of the student who died in the boat accident, after so many years. Back home the father tells the son how proud he is of his former students. He asks his son to marry Hirata's daughter Fumiko and his son admits that he likes her. The father promises to arrange the marriage. The father is happy, life is good. And then suddenly the following morning he suddenly collapses in his son's arms. Hirata and his daughter Fumiko rush to the hospital. Before dying, he only has time to ask Fumiko to take good care of his son: until the last breath he lived only for him. After their wedding, Ryohei and Fumiko take the train to the city where Ryohei teaches. They are carrying with them the dead man's ashes. They discuss her father, Hirata, and her brother, and he wants them to move in with them so they can all live together (possibly because he never had a chance to live with his own father). The camera moves to the briefcase that contains his father's ashes: he is traveling with them.

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4. La religione del nulla In questi film si delineano le caratteristiche dell'arte di Ozu. La famiglia costituisce un sistema isolato, in perfetto equilibrio; su di essa non agiscono forze esterne, e quindi si evolve in maniera indipendente. La sceneggiatura trascura l'azione e i colpi di scena, presenta vicende semplici, comuni e lineari, al limite del cinema-verità. La regia è talmente essenziale, scarnificata, depurata, distillata, che si risolve sovente in poche inquadrature e il montaggio ha dei bruschi punti di discontinuità (uso intenso del controcampo); così puro e sommesso, lo stile di Ozu rasenta una pratica religiosa. E in effetti i temi dei suoi film si riallacciano alla tradizione giapponese e anelano alla conquista di un equilibrio stabile nella tumultuosa esistenza umana; la prassi di stasi, estasi e iterazione dello Zen, la filosofia del "mono no aware", la coscienza della gioia e del dolore insite in tutte le cose che decanta in una serena rassegnata accettazione del destino. La purezza assoluta amplifica a dismisura ogni oggetto e ogni parola, conferisce un senso a ogni oggetto, procede secondo un ritmo fatto di pause e di silenzi; nei geometrici interni, sondati pudicamente da una macchina da presa posta all'altezza del tatami, si addentrano negli stati d'animo di due o tre personaggi, avvinti dal legame familiare in una intimità discreta sempre un po' imbarazzata. Ozu edifica la società su due stati fondamentali dell'esistenza: la giovinezza, radiosa stagione dell'amore, e la vecchiaia, malinconica rassegnazione della morte; e su poche situazioni familiari che si ripetono con variazioni minime di film in film. Ozu si è paragonato a un pittore che dipinge sempre lo stesso quadro. Ozu è senza dubbio il regista più tradizionalista e nostalgico del Giappone; rigidamente attaccato alla mentalità del vecchio Giappone, rifiuta sprezzante la contaminazione con il mondo occidentale. La sua famiglia è rigorosamente patriarcale, e tutte le convenzioni del vivere in casa (camminare scalzi, sedere sul tatami, salutare con un inchino, etc.) sono rispettate fino alla noia. Nella sua stessa schiva, discreta, e al tempo stesso assidua, sofferta, professione, si può riconoscere uno spirito orgoglioso e integerrimo d'altri tempi. Alla stasi drammaturgica si accoppia quindi una stasi storica, indifferente al progresso della civiltà, che finisce per astrarre del tutto la poetica di Ozu. Ozu trascende la realtà quotidiana per indagare nei meandri dell'animo umano e nell'indefinibile plasma che pone gli uomini a contatto; per indagare cioè l'universo del sentimento e della morale, dai quali scaturiscono poi i comportamenti. Monotona e retrograda, la fissità etica ed estetica di Ozu acquista lo spessore di un poema sul tempo, o di un quadro del tempo: il passare del tempo (per esempio nei contrasti genitore-figlio e giovane-vecchio) o l'assenza del tempo dominano e perfino opprimono i suoi film.

5. Banshun Nagaya Shinshiroku/ Record of A Tenement Gentleman (1947) Kaze no Naka no Mendori/ A Hen in the Wind (1948) Banshun/ Late Spring (1949), adapted from a novel by Kazuro Hirotsu by scriptwriter Kogo Noda (who would become his loyal collaborator), introduces Ozu's archetype of the kind affectionate traditional daughter who sacrifices everything to her widowed father, happy to live a quiet and monotonous life in her home village. She is hostile to marriage because she can feel that it would mean the end of the world that she has created and cared for, in which she has poured so much love. The ending praises the father, who views his loneliness after she left him as a sort of medal: the melancholy of a life without her is balanced by the pride of having worked towards her happiness. The bond that ties the girl to her father may feel Oedipal in nature (father and daughter even go on a vacation to Kyoto before her wedding that sounds like the reversal of a honeymoon trip), but Ozu has something both simpler and more complex in mind. At the simpler level, Ozu proclaims his quietly conservative philosophy of life, which is anti-cosmological and anti-metaphysical, naturalist and ordinary. At a more complex level, this film is a meditation on what happiness is: if you are happy now as things are, why do you have the change? The reason is that time will change things, whether you like it or not. Note that it is not only the girl (ostensibly the protagonist of the story) who has to accept the flow of time but also her father, and the last scene seems to indicate that it will be harder for him than for her. She has to accept that she needs to start her own family, but he has to accept a much more difficult truth: that death is approaching. That explains his own reluctance to make her face change: it reflects his own inability to face death. They both need to accept that there is an end to all things. He eventually puts in terms of duty towards the order of nature. The main ellipsis used in the film is the one of chiming clocks that mark the passing of time, chimes that are always identical but in a continuously changing world. The film was made when Japan was beginning its process of rapid "americanization" after the defeat in World War II, and there are hints that the traditional Japanese family needs to adapt to a new civilization, notably a Coca Cola sign, but mostly it is about old and new, regardless of foreign influences, it is about simple village life and the rising urban life, Noriko riding her bike to the ocean versus Noriko riding the train into Tokyo. The real protagonist is not the girl but the girl's smile. That smile evolves as the story evolves, from irreverent and carefree to gentle and melancholy. Ozu films these simple stories using the low viewpoint of someone sitting on a tatami mat, something that makes it feel even more ordinary and colloquial. At the same time Ozu invests in manically precise compositions for a religiously still camera, clearly aiming for a perfection of balance among the many elements of the scene. Narratively, he displays a unique passion for skipping the most melodramatic scenes (in fact, we never even see the bridegroom). Just when strong emotions could come into play, the film skips the action. Ozu's is cinema of small gestures, not of grand emotions. A lot of the important moments take place out of our sight, implied but not shown. In a small village with a simple train station before a majestic hill a group of women dressed in traditional style meet in a room idyllic scenery silence Masa's room. Among them is her niece Noriko. She is the only daughter of Masa's brother, an aging widower, who is a university scholar. Noriko not only lives with him but takes care of every chore in the house. The old man is dressed traditionally and works with his assistant Hattori who wears western clothes. They are trying to finish a manuscript. Noriko scolds his father for not being done yet and doesn't let him play majong with a neighbor. The following day they take the train together to Kyoto (a lengthy scene of them inside the train and of the landscape outside changing from green hills to nondescript buildings). He has to deliver the manuscript and she goes shopping. She meets her uncle Onodera. He has remarried and she disapproves of it, calling him a dirty old man. He laughs heartily. She takes him home as a surprise to her father. The two men discuss the fact that Noriko, already 27 years old, is still unmarried. She goes on bike ride with her father's assistant Hattori to the nearby ocean. Her father chats with his sister Masa who complains about the manners of young women (a bride even drank sake at her wedding). Masa tells Noriko's father about the bike ride with Hattori. Noriko is happy doing her household chores and waiting for her father to return home. She tells dad she went to the beach with Hattori, but then she laughs hysterically when he hints at a possible love story because Hattari is already engaged. Cousing Aya, who is divorced, comes to visit and stays overnight. They gossip about other girls, married and pregnant. Even the modern, liberated Aya who works in an office asks Noriko when she's going to get married. At aunt Masa's place while children are playing baseball outside, Masa lecturs Noriko about marriage. She has found a handsome 34-year-old bachelor who looks like a Hollywood star, Satake, a university-educated city character who works for a major company. Noriko is not interested because she can't leave dad alone, but her aunt has already figured out what to do with father: marry him to the childless widow Miwa. Now Noriko turns resentful. At home her father notices that she doesn't have the usual smile. Noriko, suspecting that her father has been hiding the Miwa story from her, doesn't want to talk to him, behaving like a cheated lover. She walks out to go shopping without saying a word. Father and daughter attend a Noh performance and during that lengthy scene (in which Ozu clearly enjoys showing the art of Noh) Noriko catches her father making eye contact with the widow Miwa. Her mind starts wandering away, head bowed as if she were about to cry. On the way back Noriko dumps her father with an excuse and walks on the other side of the road. She heads for Aya's place and, while waiting for her friend, she keeps meditating in a room but a big chiming clock. Noriko tells Aya that she would like to become a shorthand typist like Aya, in other word an independent woman, but Aya chides her: why work if one can get married? Aya has to work because she's divorced and lives alone. Masa the aunt arreanges for Noriko to meet suitor. Her father has already met Satake and only wants Noriko to see him and make up her mind. He finally tells her that sooner or later she'll have to marry. Noriko keeps her head down, obedient but not excited at all. She tries to prove to him that he cannot live without her: he doesn't know how to cook, how to wash his clothes, how to clean the house. She confronts him whether he wants to remarry like Onodera. He says "yes" but it really came from her, not from him. She cries alone in her room. Noriko's room has chairs and the poster of a fashionable western dress. The old man and the aunt at the shrine comment that Noriko has not given an answer yet after meeting Satake. When Noriko, pressured, accepts the marriage proposal, her aunt is delighted: she can now stop worrying about her. Her father, left alone, stares melancholy at the floor. Father and daughter go on a vacation to Kyoto, visiting its ancient temples. They meet Onodera and Noriko actually likes his new wife. At night father and daughter share a hotel room. She is happy sleeping next to her father. The following day, as they are packing to go home, she asks him why can't things continue as they are. Her father lectures her about marriage, even revealing that her own mother was initially unhappy, but in the long term it is up to the two spouses to build a new life together and find happiness. Noriko says she understands and accepts. Noriko gets married in a traditional dress. After the wedding the old man has a drink with Aya and admits that he has no intention of marrying: he only said it to encourage Noriko to get married. The old scholar returns home alone, sits down in a chair (usually he sits on the floor), and starts peeling an apple, a routine gesture. But then he gets pensive and lets the peel fall to the floor. In many ways this film is the archetype for the films that would come later: the single parent will reappear in Tokyo Twilight, Late Autumn, and An Autumn Afternoon; and the unmarried daughter, the simple soul who can find joy in monotony, will reappear in Early Summer, Equinox Flower, Late Autumn, and An Autumn Afternoon. These may look superficially like films about family but they all begin with an incomplete family and end with a further disintegration of the family. This was also the film in which Ozu first experimented the pairing of actors Chisu Ryu and Setsuko Hara. Munekata Kyoudai/ The Munekata Sisters (1950) Bakushu/ Early Summer (1951) is another film centered upon a single woman named Noriko, the perfect wife and nonetheless still single. The film is apparently simple and linear but in reality overflowing with metaphors (the caged birds, the balloon lost in the sky, etc). After so much preparation the film doesn't reveal why Noriko makes the decision she makes: is it to make an old unhappy woman happy? Is it to get out of her routine and away from her family? Is it to help an old friend of her son? Is it the bird in a cage who wants to finally fly away? Is it the balloon that wants to get lost in the sky? The tension between her independence as an unmarried woman and the soon to be limitation of freedom coming with marriage is never truly resolved. She seems to yearn for both the freedom and the family life. Whatever tragedy is brewing, it unfolds gracefully and never gets out of control. By the end everybody has accepted her or his place in the new world, a place that involves both happiness and sorrow, but, mostly, just acceptance of destiny. The film opens with views of nature but with a caged bird in the foreground. More birds are kept in cages inside the house by the patriarch, a gentle old man. Noriko lives with her parents and her brother Koichi and his wife Fumiko. They all have breakfast together, then the adults leave for work while granpa takes care of child who stays home. Koichi is a doctor. Noriko, instead, is a humble secretary. She shares the office with her boss, who makes fun of her and of another girl, Aya (who wears traditional Japanese clothes) for still being unmarried. After work Noriko has dinner with her brother and his wife. Koichi scolds the women for not adhering to the traditional role of women. Noriko proudly declares that women have taken their place in society, and Koichi sarcastically comments that she cannot find a husband. They are expecting an uncle who has not visited in a while. When the mostly deaf uncle arrives, the first thing he asks her is her age (28) and whether she does not want to get married. Noriko is a a kind and simple person, who behaves like a second mother to her nephews. She always smiles. She takes the old senile uncle and the two children for a walk to the giant statue of the downtown. Noriko then visits her unmarried coworker Aya. A married friend is there because she had a silly fight with her husband over a dog. The three girls make fun of he man. But when the husband calls, the wife runs to him. Aya is bitterly disappointed with her for surrendering so easily. Noriko then visits her boss, who abruptly asks her the same question about marriage. He has a classmate who is a lifelong middle-aged virgin, Manabe, a good man with a good income, and wants Noriko to meet him. The mother of her unmarried coworker Aya visits Noriko's brother at the clinic and so Koichi learns that Noriko has a suitor and later at home tells their father. Granma pays the older child to massage her: the child is saving money to buy a miniature train. Meanwhile, Noriko has attended a wedding and is having dinner with Aya and two married friends. The married girls defend the happiness of marriage. Aya, as usual, is cynical about the treatment reserved to wife by husbands, and boasts about the freedom of unmarried women. The married ones look down on the single ones. The girls decide to meet again on sunday at Noriko's place. At home she chats with her sister-in-law about the wedding and the dinner. Her brother is secretely eavesdropping, curious to find out whether she will consider the new suitor. The whole family is anxious for her to get married. An old friend, Tami, comes to visit Noriko's mother and reveals that a detective has been asking questions about Noriko, obviously hired by the suitor. Koichi, on the other hand, is investigating the suitor. The businessman and Noriko have never met and they are almost engaged. Tami's son Kenkichi is a doctor and has lost his wife in the war. Tami is helping him raise his little girl. Noriko's parents too have lost a son in the war. His father has lost any hope, but his mother keeps hope alive. On sunday the two married girls flake out. Aya (dressed again in a kimono) and Noriko are sorry that such good friends are drifting apart, but they comment that it cannot be helped. Meanwhile Noriko's parents are eating in a snack a park and meditate that this is the happiest time of their lives, with their son happily married and Noriko about to get married too. They stare at a balloon in the sky and reflect that a child must be crying somewhere. Kenkichi drops by to say hi to his old friends Noriko and Fumiko. They encourage him to get remarried like his mother wants him to. His girl needs a mother, after all. Koichi reports back to his wife and his mother that the suitor is respectable businessman, but the women don't like the fact that he is 12 years older than Noriko. He loses his temper with his wife Fumiko and tells her to shut up and he tells his mother than she wants too much for Noriko (but his mother responds with a look that means Noriko is worth that much). Koichi, still tense, scolds his children for being ungrateful and the children go for a walk by the sea. When the children don't return for dinner, Noriko goes looking for them and Kenkichi helps her find them, while Koichi pretends to be indifferent and plays go with his best friend. Kenkichi has been offered a new job in a different city that would mean a higher salary. His mother doesn't like the idea and quietly cries. Kenkichi was a good friend of Noriko's lost brother. The two families have always been very close. On the eve of his departure Kenkichi's mother Tami tells Noriko of her dream that Kenkichi would remarry with her, Noriko, and Noriko surprises her by accepting with no hesitation, as if she had always waiting for the offer. Noriko makes the old woman very happy. As Noriko is leaving the house, she runs into Kenkichi himself but they hardly exchange a word. He is to leave with an early train. When his mother tells him of the deal she arranged, he does not rejoice: he knows what is coming next. Noriko is confronted by the whole family. They remind her that he is a widower with a young girl. She doesn't seem to mind. They remind her that he is leaving town. She doesn't seem to mind. She doesn't have a rational explanation for her decision. She just felt that it was the right thing to do. Noriko's parents don't say much but they are clearly disappointed. The following day she lies to Kenkichi's mother about her parents and her brother's feelings. Kenkichi's mother is in heaven. At work she chats with Aya, who is sure that Noriko has always been secretely in love with Kenkichi. Then Aya drags Noriko to see the good-looking rich businessman she has refused, and it feels like Aya is the one who wants to marry him now. Noriko's family is meeting to decide whether they can give their approval. When she comes home, everybody is cold to her and she has to eat alone. After a trip to the beach with her sister-in-law, during which she rationally considers that a man with a child is a more reliable husband than a man who has never been married, Noriko quits her job and prepares for her new life. Her boss is not angry at her for refusing to marry his friend, the middle-aged businessman. Her family too comes around and approves the marriage. Father, mother, sister and brother reminisce with a mixture of joy and sorrow how they have been living together for 16 years in that house. There are no bird cages in the house anymore. Now it is Noriko who breaks into tears at the thought of parting with her family.

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6. Tokyo Monogatari Sul versante opposto si situa Tokyo Monogatari/ Tokyo Story (1953), dedicato alla città moderna (non al villaggio ancora all'antica) e alla disgregazione della famiglia (invece che alla sua unità). Una coppia di anziani coniugi, che vive in un villaggio con la figlia maggiore, decidono di recarsi a Tokyo in visita ai loro figli; vengono ospitati dal primogenito, medico, sposato con due figli, nella sua casa di periferia; l'altra figlia è proprietaria di un salone di bellezza ed è sposata a un uomo d'affari; un'umile impiegata è invece la vedova del loro figlio morto in guerra. Dapprincipio i nonni sono felici, quasi increduli di ciò che vedono; ma poco a poco si rendono conto che nessuno dei loro figli ha tempo di occuparsi di loro; e fortunatamente non si rendono conto della loro taccagneria: il figlio e la figlia hanno infatti convenuto che non è il caso di spendere troppo per festeggiare l'avvenimento. Per liberarsi dei poveri vecchi, li sistemano in un albergo in riva al mare, del tutto inadatto alle esigenze di due persone anziane; per quanto grati ai figli del soggiorno gratuito, essi intuiscono che è meglio tornare a casa. Non vogliono però trascorrere un'altra notte nell'afoso e rumoroso albergo, e, non potendo abusare del medico e della parrucchiera, vanno ad aspettare che la nuora esca dal lavoro; la giovane, cortese e rispettosa, è l'unica persona che ha dato loro ciò di cui hanno veramente bisogno: calore umano. Mentre la nonna aspetta sull'uscio, il nonno ne approfitta per andare in cerca di due compaesani e, trovatili, per brindare alla perduta giovinezza; si ubriacano come ai bei tempi, ma all'allegria segue presto la tristezza, con la malinconica constatazione che aver perso i figli in guerra o averli ancora non fa poi una gran differenza. La polizia accompagna il nonno a casa della figlia, la quale è seccata del fatto; la nuora invece ospita volentieri la nonna nel suo umile appartamentino, chiacchiera con lei, e le dona persino dei soldi. La nonna si stupisce che suo marito abbia alzato il gomito, visto che da anni non succedeva più. Se ne vanno mascherando la triplice delusione: di aver trovato dei figli meno importanti di come li immaginavano, di essere stati soltanto d'impaccio, e consci che non potranno più ripetere quel viaggio. Entrambi sono commossi soprattutto dalla nuora, che nella vita è stata tanto sfortunata e che non pensa a risposarsi, pur rischiando così di finire i suoi giorni in solitudine. Dopo una sosta a Osaka, per salutare l'ultimo figlio, rientrano al paese, ma la nonna, che si era già sentita male a Tokyo e sul treno, si aggrava; i figli accorrono al capezzale e versano lacrime di coccodrillo; tutti hanno impegno e ripartono dopo la cerimonia. Accanto al nonno rimane soltanto la fedele nuora, la cui presenza fa risaltare agli occhi della figlia minore l'egoismo degli altri figli. Ma Ozu, pur criticando duramente il modo di vivere moderno, non accusa i figli; ritrae il naturale svolgersi della vita, del quale fa parte anche il distacco dei figli, crudele ed egoista finchè si vuole, ma naturale. Nella pacata rassegnazione del nonno è racchiusa tutta la filosofia di Ozu. I film di Ozu sono l'equivalente visivo delle miniature poetiche "haiku" che cercano di isolare con la laconicità di tre brevi versi una singola poetica emozione.

Soshun/ Early Spring (1956) is his longest film ever but certainly not his best. The two hours and a half to tell a simple and rather stereotypical store are a testimony to a rare case of self-indulgence. It is redeemed by several iconic shots, some even reminiscent of Western film noir. It also displays an emphasis on the industrial landscape (train station, offices, a gas station, smokestacks) that seems to be presented as the culprit. The film begins with the train that transports the commuters to work, and on which the man socializes with the femme fatale, and closes with a train that marks the man's separation from her. A humble couple wakes up in the morning. The wife, Masako, starts her chores around the house; the man, Sugiyamato, walks to the train station. He works with hundreds of other commuters in a multi-story building. Sugi has a chance to chat with an old acquaintance, Onodera, who has been transferred to another city and calls himself an "exile". The coworkers talks about Miura, one of them, who has been sick for three months. Sugi and Onodera visit another old friend, who owns a bar and enjoys more freedom than employees working for the big corporation. Onodera is a wise man, but also sad and pessimistic about life. He encourages Sugiyamato to quit and get freedom. The coworkers organizd a hiking trip, during which Sugiyama befriends a crazy girl nicknamed Goldfish who works in the same building as a a typist. His wife Masako doesn't go on the trip in order to save money and instead visits her mom. The two women talk about the couple's financial trouble, that seems to be a disease common to all the workers of that town. The old mother is worried about a daughter who has no children (Sugi's and Masako's son died a few yaers earlier) and about a son, Koichi, who has no job. One day the widow Sakae visits Masako: another person who is free from obligations, in this case marital ones. That night Masako feels rebellious towards her husband, who treats her like a cook. Sugi's main hobby is to play mahjong with his male friends. The only girl who joins them is Goldfish. One day Masako calls Sugi at the office because she needs him at home. Instead he spends the evening with Goldfish and then flees with her to a beach location, letting his wife believe that he is playing nahjong with his friends. When he finally returns home, he lies about having visited his sick friend Miura. Masako's mother tells her to take it easy. Another girlfriend tells Masako that her husband cheated on her even maintaining his lover in another house. Sugi attends a war buddy reunion in a restaurant. They all drink and sing together to the good old days, but then they fall into a melancholy silence. His wife is alone at home. when he shows up with two drunk buddies, his wife is actually surprised that he was telling the truth about the reunion dinner. The two friends collapse in their house and sleep over. The following day is the anniversary of their son's death and Masako walks to the grave while Sugi is still entertaining his friends. Their nice neighbor Aoki is scared when his wife announces that she might be pregnant: they don't have the means to raise a child. On the way back Masako stops at her mother's cafe and tells her that she found lipstick on Sugi's handkerchief and that he forgot their son's anniversary. One day Sugi's boss offers him a transfer to a faraway location. Sugi's male coworkers gossip about Sugi's relationship with Goldfish and plan to embarrass the two adulterers at a noodle party. They scold Goldfish, she denies vehemently, she yells at them and leaves. Sugiyama does not show up because he is visiting the sick and delirious Miura. Miura's mother hopes in his prompt recovery, a marriage and a new house, but it is clearly hopeless. Golfish comes to warn Sugi against his friends and Masako decides to confront him. He denies everything, but she found lipstick on his shirt again. Masako moves out and moves in with her girlfriend the widow. The following morning Myura is dead, killed by an overdose of sleeping pills. Now his mother lost both children (the other one died in the war) Sugiyama accepts the transfer and begins packing. Aoki helps him and asks for advice about the pregnancy that he cannot afford, and Sugiyama's advise is to keep the baby because he knows what it feels to lose a child. Goldfish is bitter with Sugi because she thinks that he simply wants to run away from her. Before leaving Sugiyama pays his respects to Masako's mother, who is shocked to learn that Masako has not returned to her husband yet. The old woman tells her son Koichi that her husband (his father) behaved even worse and she simply coped with that. Later the old woman confronts Masako and tells her it is about time to forgive. Before leaving, Sugiyama visits the bar and hears the bartender friend chat with an old customer: melancholy stories of pointless lives; the bartender feels lonelier now that one friend is dead and one is leaving town, and the old man is sad that his son will some day be a meaningless employee like him. There is also a farewell dinner with the coworkers, to which Goldfish shows up late. Finally, Sugi has one last conversation with the "exile" friend Onodera after which Sugi writes a letter to Masako and, unbeknownst to him, Onodera writes too. One day Masako arrives with no warning. Sugi apologizes to her, and they decide to start over.

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7. Tokyo boshoku

Ozu dramatically shifted his tone with the two-hour long Tokyo Boshoku/ Tokyo Twilight (1957), a gloomy and desperate fresco of contemporary society that employs a vast cast of characters. The protagonist drifts in a society that doesn't have any attraction for her. She doesn't have the strength to rebel either. So she feels that she should have never been born. The film has multiple moral lessons, and there is blame for just about everybody, everybody guilty of selfish decisions that ended up causing pain to others. Every now and then the camera pauses on a scene without people: a clock, a lamp, a street sign, a window, a stretch of railway...

Higanbana/ Equinox Flower (1958) was his first color film and a rather trivial analysis of the transition from the age of arranged marriage, in which parents take the responsibility, to the age in which young women take responsibility for choosing their husband. It doesn't have the subtlety and sweetness of his classics, more similar to Hollywood melodramas of the Paddy Chayefsky kind, and feels overlong at two hours. The family of two newlyweds meet at a train station. There's a warning about strong winds. The bride's boss, Wataru, notices that Mikami didn't show up. He then gives a speech about the bride, Tomoko. He mentions that his own marriage was arranged by his parents and his wife's parents, and instead today young people can choose whom they like. Wataru then has dinner at a restaurant with the father of the bride and another friend. At home Wataru inquires about his older daughter, Setsuko, who has to decide on a marriage proposal. The younger daughter, Hisako, is certain that she will find a good husband by herself. Mikami visits Wataru at his office and confesses that he is worried about his own daughter: Fumiko has moved in with a man and found a job as a waitress in a bar. Their conversation is interrupted by his talkative sister, a innkeeper, who is having an argument about marriage with her daughter Yukiko, encouraging her to consider a doctor's assistant. Later, Yukiko visits Wataru at his home and informs him that her mother has been hospitalized for a heart checkup... but Yukiko knows that it's just a trick to make her fall in love with the young doctor. And Yukiko is not interested in the young man. Yukiko complains with Setsuko that her mother is too insistent. They make a pact to help each other against the scheming of their parents. After being released from the hospital (there is nothing wrong with her heart), Yukiko's mother visits Setsuko's mother and tells her that she has another prospect, a pharmacist. During a trip to a lake, Wataru's wife Kiyoko misses the war years when the children were small and the family was always together. Wataru instead remember that they were poor surrounded by arrogant people. Now he is rich and powerful. A young man comes to visit Wataru at the office. Taniguchi is a coworker of his daughter Setsuko and comes to ask for Setsuko's hand. Wataru and his wife are surprised and disappointed that they were kept in the dark the whole time. Setsuko was unaware of Taniguchi's move but confirms that she's in love. Wataru doesn't give his consent because Taniguchi is not from a rich family. Setsuko cries and refuses to obey. Mikami returns to visit Wataru at his office, still worried about his daughter. Wataru promises to check on the girl. Wataru visits the bar with a young employee, Kondo, who turns out to be a regular customer of the bar. Mikami's daughter, Fumiko, tells Wataru that her father is unreasonable, trying to arrange marriages that she doesn't care about while she is in love with a jazz pianist, Naganuma. Back at home Wataru asks Setsuko if she slept with Taniguchi and Setsuko resents the intimate question (but implies "no"). Wataru is clearly worried that he will soon be in his friend Mikami's situation. At the same time, Wataru mediates between Mikami and his daughter Fumiko: he brings her money from her father and tells her that her father wants to see her. Yukiko summons her uncle Wataru and tells him that she moved out after an argument with her mother over a young man whom she loves: her mother wants her to marry a rich pharmacist but she loves a humble employee. When Wataru advises her to ignore her mother, she confesses that it was a trick: she extorted from him the kind of decision that Setsuko is looking for. Informed, Wataru's wife Kiyoko is happy that the matter is settled but Wataru instead still doesn't approve of Taniguchi and swears he won't go to his daughter's wedding if they get married. They announce the wedding and Wataru confirms that he won't attend the wedding. The night before the wedding Wataru coldly informs his wife that he will after all attend the wedding because all of his friends are going. After the wedding, Wataru, Mikami and their old friends sing nostalgic songs in a private restaurant room. Mikami tells Wataru that he too has made peace with his daughter and consensts that she marries her boyfriend. Wataru visits his sister and Yukiko. Yukiko jokes that she can't get married because her mother needs her, but Wataru advises her to think about herself. Now his views have completely changed: the happiness of the children comes first. Yukiko tells him that Setsuko was sad that he didn't smile at the wedding. His sister and Yukiko suggests that he forgets about his business appointments and visits Setsuko in her new city. His wife is happy to hear that he is on his way. The film ends with the train leaving the station, the exact opposite of the first scene. Ohayo/ Good Morning (1959) is a remake of I Was Born But. Another color film was Ukigusa/ Floating Weeds (1959), a remake of his 1934 classic. In the remake the protagonist is not heroic but simply and old fool who wasted his life and now has to live with the consequences. A hot small town is waiting for the boat to arrive. Traveling on the boat is a troupe of kabuki actors. Their leader, renamed Komajuro for this remake, is returning to this town after 12 years. The leader visits his middle-aged lover Oyoshi, who hasn't seen him in 12 years and who bore a child of his, Kiyoshi, who doesn't know who his real father is and thinks that the leader is just his uncle. The boy, renamed Kiyoshi for the remake, is now a hard-working young man who is saving money to go to college. The leader is ashamed of being just a traveling actor playing lousy comedies for old-fashioned audiences. Nonetheless the young man insists on coming to the show. During the break the actors admire the women in the audience. An actor is particularly fond of the barber's daughter Aiko. The first performance is not a success. Komajuro and his son go fishing together, and his son shows surprise that the old man would waste his talent in such low-class comedies. The troupe also features two actresses, first actress Sumiko and the younger, cute Kayo. Sumiko overhears that the leader is spending time with a young man and gets curious. One of the older actors, Roku, tells her the truth, that the leader is seeing his old girlfriend. There are comic detours that show the male actors chasing the girls they like: Senta and the ugly prostitute, and the young one mistreated by Aiko. On a rainy day the leader visits his son. While they are playing a game of go, happily watched by the boy's mother, Sumiko pays an unexpected visit. Sumiko is ready to make a scene and tell the truth in front of the young man but the leader drags her out in the rain and readily admits that the young man is his son. She yells at him that she saved him countless times from ruin. He retorts that she was just a miserable whore when he found her. Days later, as the performances are failing one after the other to attract an audience, Sumiko asks pretty Kayo to seduce the leader's son Kiyoshi. She easily succeeds. Meanwhile the troupe is getting depressed by both the hot weather and the scarce enthusiasm of the town for their performances. The leader too is losing hope. He still wants his son to think of him as an uncle because he doesn't want the young boy to be ashamed of having a father who is a loser. Kayo falls in love with Kiyoshi for real and confesses that she was hired to seduce him by Sumiko. Returning home from his old girlfriend's, the leader catches the two lovers in a narrow alley. Then he waits for Kayo and confronts her, slapping her in the face and twisting her arm until she confesses the whole story. The leader, furious, summons Sumiko and then beats her and insults her. Meanwhile his actors are penniless and can't even afford to buy the prostitutes of the brothel. Kichi scolds two of them for trying to betray the leader. But then he is the one who runs away with the money. The troupe gets together one last time, including a taciturn Sumiko, and the leader drinks to the good old times, while actors begin thinking about future jobs. After parting with them, the leader visits his old girlfriend one more time and she convinces him to tell Kiyoshi the truth. Just then Kayo is telling Kiyoshi that they have to part because she is not worthy of him. He brings her home where the leader loses his temper and slaps both in the face. His mother shouts at him that the old man is his father, but the boy refuses to accept him and still calls him "uncle". The leader recognizes that the boy is right in not wanting a father who abandoned him, and the old man decides to leave, and before leaving he tells Kayo she has his approval. The old man leaves with a smile. A heartbroken Kayo begs Kiyoshi to make peace with the old man, but, when the boy comes back, the old man is already heading for the train station, and his mother tells the boy not to stop him. At the train station he meets Sumiko and they start planning a new theatrical venture. Akibiyori/ A Calm Autumn Day/ Late Autumn (1960) is about the close bond between a single mother and her only daughter. Miwa's widow Akiko is still attractive despite being middle aged. She has a young daughter, Ayako, who is of marrying age but has no desire of finding a husband because she wants to remain with her mother despite the discrete courtship of a good prospect, Goto. The friends realize that Ayako will get married only if her mother does, so they try to find her a husband. This makes Ayako angry. Her mother, however, eventually convinces her to get married, assuring her that she can live happily alone. Kohayagawa-ke No Aki/ Autumn for the Kohayagawa Family/ The End of Summer/ Early Autumn (1961) returns to the Noriko trilogy. It is unusually light-hearted and even comic. There are basically two protagonists: Noriko as usual is the unmarried daughter (who in this case decides to leave her birthplace and start a new life) and her father is a scoundrel who created the family's business but now is indulging in the sin of an illegitimate relationship, indifferent to what people think. The old man is drifting towards death with a content smile. Noriko, still young, decides to live the life she wants, and not the life that others expect from her. Overall, Ozu seems to accept life and death, and demistify both. Two men meet in a restaurant. One is the uncle of a widow who wants to introduce her to his friend, a middle-aged business-man. The widow, Akiko, who works in an art gallery, shows up dressed in a traditional costume and is humble and shy. The business-man is favorably impressed. Akiko's sister Noriko is still single. She dresses in Western clothes but is equally polite and reserved. She is having an interview with a candidate of her own, recommended by her father. Meanwhile an old friend of Noriko, the handsome widower Teramoto, is dispatched to another town. His friends stage a farewell dinner for him, and Noriko alone follows him to the train station to bid farewell. The eldest daughter, Fumiko, who also wears traditional clothes, is happily married. The family is puzzled by a mystery: their old father is going out frequently. The father is still the owner of the family's brewery, although day-to-day business is taken care by Fumiko's husband. One day he asks a clerk to follow the old man to see where he goes. The old man realizes he is being followed and plays cat and mouse with the shy clerk. However, the clerk finds out that the old man is seeing a woman named Sasaki. The family is disconcerted because Sasaki is the old man's lover of twenty years earlier, who brought disruption to the family when their mother was still alive, and who claims to have had a daughter from the old man. In fact this girl, Yuriko, is spoiled and greedy, and hopes to receive expensive gifts from her "father", although she knows that most likely the man is not her real father because she remember another father when she was a child. Yuriko likes to date young men from the USA. Fumiko is in charge of scolding the father for his reckless behavior. Nonetheless the "old master" continues to visit his old lover. Meanwhile the business man sees Akiko again at the gallery. He is interested. She is very polite but not very interested. The family discusses the two unmarried daughters over dinner, while the two are walking together by the river. Noriko reveals to Akiko that she is corresponding with Teramoto and Akiko encourages her to follow her heart. The old master has a heart attack. The girls weep. Relatives are summoned from other cities. However, the old master recovers promptly and amuses everybody with his good humor. Akiko disappoints her suitor by not showing up at their next appointment. The old master goes to visit Sasaki again but this time has another heart attack and it is fatal. Fumiko and her husband dress up and go to Sasaki's house to retrieve the dead man. Yuriko is heartbroken that the old man died without giving her the gift she hoped for, and now she is dating a USA boy who doesn't have money. Two peasants watch the chimney of the crematory from the river. The family is assembled around a table to pay their last respect to the old man. They discuss the fact that the brewery is struggling and they might have to sell it to a bigger company. Noriko tells Akiko that she has decided to follow Teramoto and Akiko is happy for her. The two peasants see smoke coming out of the chimney and comment that someone has died, but praise nature that is also bringing new life to the world while it destroys old one. The family walks in a procession on a bridge, crossing the river towards the graveyard, carrying the ashes of the old man. Akiko is always smiling, no matter what happens. Crows are sitting on the graves. Ozu's last film, Sanma no Aji/ The Taste of Saury/ An Autumn Afternoon (1962), stands as a summary of his favorite themes: the sacrifice that older people accept for younger people, the devotion of younger people for their older folks, the inevitable separation, the flowing of time towards death, the cruel solitude of old age. In this last film Ozu takes a few liberties, regretting explicitly that Japan lost the war and that, as a result, Western culture is destroying Japan's traditional lifestyle and values. Ozu's world is still a world of busy men, loyal house-bound women and, at best, secretaries. Since the furniture is now mostly western and so are the clothes it is even more noticeable that the camera is often showing the scene as seen from the floor, thus mimicking the viewpoint of someone sitting on a mat. Sometimes we only see the pants of a character. The camera shows an industrial landscape, then a clock in the hallway of the factory, then a middle-aged man at work at his desk: Shuhei. He scolds his young secretary for not being married yet: she lives with her father, just like Shuhei's daughter Michiko, who has the same age, but Shuhei doesn't seem to notice the coincidence. A friend comes to visit and proposes a match with his son but Shuhei thinks that his own daughter is still a child. Shuhei meets friends at a restaurant while television is broadcasting a baseball game. They discuss their children. One of them married a young woman and she comes to pick him up after buying a "medicine" (a sexual stimulant). The friends feel that he is embarrassing himself. The friends are planning a reunion dinner with their old schoolteacher This man is now very old and is reduced to running a cheap restaurant. He lives with his only daughter after his wife died, and she has never married. They laugh at memories of school, but also realize that their old teacher is going senile and is very poor. Shuhei and his friend Kawai take him home drunk and meet his kind daughter Tomoko, who is now past marrying age. When the two leave, Tomoko sits next to her drunk father with a melancholy expression on her face: that old man is all her life. And she starts crying. The episode makesd Shuhei think that he doesn't want to become like that. The friend with with the young wife dies. The others collect money for the old teacher and Shuhei delivers it. While he is in the restaurant, a customer recognizes Shuhei as his old navy captain. They go to a bar and reminisce about the war. This marine regrets that Japan lost the war and that everybody had a rough time following the defeat. He complains that young people are in love with Western things. Shuhei's eldest son Koichi asks to borrow money to buy a refrigerator. is told by his daughter that his eldest son came to see him. Koichi is married with an assertive wife, Akiko, who doesn't like the way he spends money. She is happy to hear that her father-in-law promised to give them the money for a refrigerator and tells a neighbor who just bought a vacuum cleaner. She is going to be disappointed because Koichi shows up with new golf clubs, golf being his passion. They have an argument. Michiko, who still dressed tradictional, brings the money to Koichi. Just then Koichi's best friend Miura appears with a new set of golf clubs that he claims are a bargain. Koichi's wife Akiko initially opposes the deal but then, for the sake of her husband's happiness, bargains the price. And then asks for an expensive handbag in return. Michiko is amused by the dynamics between the spouses. Michiko takes the train with Miura, and secretely falls in love with him. Back at the factory, Shuhei's secretary announces that she is getting married and Shuhei is happy for her. At the same time the old schoolteacher comes to thank him for the money, and admits that he is torn by remorse that his daughter remained at home. Kawai warns Shuhei not to end up like the old schoolteacher, and offers a suggestion about a possible husband for Michiko. Michiko reacts angrily when her father talks about it: she can't see how he and her younger brother would survive without her. Koichi's wife works at the company and hears about the marriage plans. Shuhei walks in to discuss Kawai's idea with Koichi and also inquire about Miura because he has heard through the grapevine that his daughter likes Miura. Koichi finds out that Miura likes someone else at his office. Shuhei and Koichi break the news to Michiko, who is disappointed but now accepts to meet Kawai's choice. However, her father finds her crying. The film fast forwards to days after the wedding. Shuhei is dining with the usual friends. The friends can tell that Shuhei is now lonely. In fact, later he drinks alone at the bar where he had met that navy acquaintance. The owner of the bar plays military music for him, which is actually a reminder that Japan lost the war. In the last scene Shuhei goes to sleep drunk and mutters "alone". Ozu died in 1963. He instructed his heirs to engrave only the ideogram for "nothingness" on his grave. (Copyright © 2015 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of Use )