Early Summer is a 1951 drama directed by Yasujiro Ozu and starring Setsuko Hara and Chishu Ryu. Like most Ozu films, Early Summer deals with many issues ranging from communication problems between generations and the rising role of women in post-war Japan. Noriko lives contentedly in an extended family household that includes her parents and her brother’s family, but an uncle’s visit prompts the family to find her a husband. Continue reading »
Late Spring is a 1949 black and white film drama directed by Yasujirō Ozu and starring Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara. Many consider this extremely chaste film between a father and his marriageable daughter his finest achievement. The story concerns Noriko, who lives happily with her widowed father and seems in no hurry to get married. Her father, a professor, however, wants to see her settled and conspires with his sister to trick Noriko into pursuing an arranged marriage. Continue reading »
An Autumn Afternoon is 1962 drama and the final movie directed by Yasujiro Ozu. Known in Japan as Sanma no Aji (literally, “The Taste of a Pacific saury”), the film stars Chishu Ryu as the patriarch of the Hirayama family who oversees the wedding of his daughter, played by Shima Iwashita. Continue reading »
Good Morning is a 1959 comedy film by Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu. It is a loose remake of his own 1932 silent film I Was Born, But…, and one of only six films that Ozu made in color.
The film takes place in suburban Tokyo, and begins with a group of boy students going home. The film steers into a subplot concerning the local women’s club monthly dues. Continue reading »
Tokyo Story is a 1953 Japanese film directed by Yasujiro Ozu. It tells the story of a couple who travel to Tokyo to visit their grown children, but find their children are too absorbed in their own lives to spend much time with their parents. It is often regarded as Ozu’s masterpiece, and is cited by Sight & Sound as one of the greatest films ever made. Continue reading »