385. Sanma no aji/An Autumn Afternoon (1962)

Running Time: 112 minutes
Directed By: Yasujiro Ozu
Written By: Kogo Noda, Yasujiro Ozu
Main Cast: Chishu Ryu, Shima Iwashita, Keiji Sada, Mariko Okada, Teruo Yoshida
Click here to view the trailer

OZU HAT TRICK: PART THREE OF THREE

My short time with Yasujiro Ozu comes to a close with the watching of "An Autumn Afternoon", Ozu's final film. Let's get right to it, shall we.

The film stars Chishu Ryu (the actor who played the father in "Tokyo Story") as Mr. Hirayama, an aging widower and businessman with three children. Two of the three children live with him, Kazuo (boy) and Michiko (girl). Hirayama's friend and colleague, Mr. Kawai, urges him to marry off Michiko, reminding him that if he doesn't do it soon (she's twenty-four years old) it will be too late. Over and over again Hirayama brushes off the warnings of his friend, assuring him that Michiko will be fine. Meanwhile, Hirayama's third son, Koichi (Sada) and his wife are having financial problems and must ask Mr. Hirayama for a loan, so that they can buy a new refrigerator. Hirayama agrees almost instantly and Koichi actually asks for more than they need so that he can buy a set of golf clubs he's been eyeing. Later, the couple fight over the proper way to use the loan that Mr. Hirayama granted them and argument ensue when Koichi's wife forbids him to buy the clubs. Meanwhile, Hirayama goes about his life, meeting with friends and colleagues, both current and former. As the film goes on, we realize that Mr. Hirayama has a drinking problem (a running theme in Ozu's films), as he comes home every night tipsy, each night more tipsy than the previous. After meeting with a former teacher, whom they call "The Gourd", who is now at the end of his life, widowed and living with his daughter (who never got married because she stayed to take care of him), Hirayama realizes that Kawai is right and that he needs to find a husband for Michiko.

SPOILER ALERT!!

Sure, based on that synopsis, "An Autumn Afternoon" doesn't sound too appealing. I mean, I'll even admit that I was really grasping at straws to include details because, honestly, not a lot happens in the picture. The film relies more on subtleties, like the reactions between characters (once again Ozu explores the theme of interactions between generations) and dialogue. To my surprise, the dialogue is actually quite snappy and certain things are said which actually caught me off guard. For example, one conversation between Hirayama, Kawai and another friend, Mr. Horie, about Horie's new, young wife and whether or not Horie is taking viagra-like pills to keep up with her, was quite shocking to hear, especially for Ozu, who seemed to be making pretty traditional films. I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about this film, but I will tell you that I DID like it. I like subtle films sometimes (a lot of the time actually). My complaints are few and would include my dislike for the score, which I felt was too upbeat for such a sad story. Only at the VERY end did the score actually reflect the moods and emotions of the characters and by then it was too late to make a difference.

Speaking of the ending, I did like it. My recent discontent with certain film endings has made me hesitant when "FIN" is on the horizon, but this one worked. I truly felt sorry for Mr. Hirayama, pressured into marrying off his only daughter, constantly reminded of what could happen to her if she stays with him. His tears at the end touched me. I also felt sorry for Michiko, who must've felt as though her father was trying to push her away, maybe not realizing that he only wanted the best for her. If ever there was a time to hope for a fictitious characters happy future, Mr. Hirayama and Michiko are prime candidates.

I just want to touch a bit on Yasujiro Ozu and am proud to say I enjoyed his works. I was too rough on "Floating Weeds" and too easy on "Tokyo Story", but "An Autumn Afternoon" was the cream of the crop and easily the best of the three. It was an "An Autumn Afternoon" that will get me to check out more Ozu films someday and despite the subtle nature of the story and unexciting script, I thought this was a success for Ozu, who dies only a year later.

RATING: 7/10  Can't go TOO high, just because, but still a hell of a film and I hope I can find a home for it on my TOP 20, at least in "Ten Worth Mentioning" land.

MOVIES WATCHED: 623
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 378

March 1, 2013  11:14pm

354. Ukigusa/Floating Weeds (1959)

Running Time: 119 minutes
Directed By: Yasujiro Ozu
Written By: Kogo Noda, Yasujiro Ozu
Main Cast: Ganjiro Nakamura, Machiko Kyo, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Haruko Sugimura, Ayako Wakao
Click here to view the trailer

OZU HAT TRICK: PART TWO OF THREE

Moving right along with the three film salute to Yasujiro Ozu, we come to the remake of his own 1934 film, "The Story of Floating Weeds" - this one simply called "Floating Weeds". I had a more difficult time getting through this one, than I did with "Tokyo Story". Why, you ask? Read on...

The main story of "Floating Weeds" deals with a troupe of Kabuki actors, who arrive in a seaside town, during a very hot summer. Upon their arrival, many of the troupe's actors make their way around town, flyers in hand and promote the upcoming series of shows that they plan to put on. Komajuro (Nakamura), the troupe's master, takes time to visit an old flame and the two reminisce. It seems that the old flame, named Oyoshi (Sugimura), has a child by Komajuro. The child, Kiyoshi (Kawaguchi), now nearly college age, doesn't know that Komajuro is his father and thinks that he is actually his uncle. While in town, Komajuro plans to spend as much time as he can with Kiyoshi and during an all day fishing outing with him, his current flame, Sumiko (Kyo) begins to wonder where he's been getting off to. When he returns, she confronts him about it, but not wanting anyone to know about his illegitimate son, he hides the details from her and simply tells her to stop being jealous. This only makes Sumiko more curious and when she asks around, she finds out that Komajuro has been seen at Oyoshi's place many times. Sumiko begins to suspect that Komajuro is cheating on her and goes to Oyoshi's to confront all three of them: Komajuro, Oyoshi and Kiyoshi. When there, she sees Kiyoshi and makes the assumption that he is the child of Komajuro. Later, Sumiko pays another female member of the troupe, the beautiful Kayo (Wakao), to seduce Kiyoshi.

Whew, that got a little confusing at the end there, didn't it? I'm not going to say that "Floating Weeds" was horrible, because with it's superb cinematography and top notch acting, it definitely had it's merits as to why it was included in THE BOOK. I'll simply say that the film wasn't for me, was very traditional in it's themes (once again Ozu finds fascination with the interaction between different generations, something that I found interesting in "Tokyo Story", but not here) and due to it's traditional nature, that may have been detrimental in my dislike for it. It wasn't necessarily hard to get through, I WAS able to get somewhat lost in the story. It's just that I didn't care enough about the characters to wonder how they'd turn out. It seems to me, after only watching two Ozu pictures, that the filmmaker is very of his time and obviously some of the themes and ideas that fascinate him, aren't as interesting to me. I won't necessarily look forward to the next Ozu offering ("An Autumn Afternoon"), but after one like and one dislike, nor will I dread it.

RATING: 4/10  I really hate wrapping things up THAT fast, but I've said all I needed to say on this one. Next up for Ozu: "An Autumn Afternoon".

MOVIES WATCHED: 620
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 381

February 26, 2013  7:20pm

257. TOKYO STORY (1953)

Running Time: 136 minutes
Directed By: Yasujiro Ozu
Written By: Kogo Noda, Yasujiro Ozu
Main Cast: Chishu Ryu, Chieko Higashiyama, Setsuko Hara, Haruko Sugimura, So Yamamura
Click here to view the trailer

Note: This is the first time I've noticed this, but I find it interesting that THE BOOK doesn't list the foreign title for "Tokyo Story" ("Tokyo Monogatari"). It USUALLY lists both and therefore I always list them both in the title, however, I'm also very strict with myself about only including what THE BOOK includes, so I left it out here. That's also why a lot of times the years are wrong for some of the movies. Yeah, in case you haven't noticed, A LOT of the cited years that are in THE BOOK are wrong. There usually only off by one year, but I've noticed a lot of deviation from what THE BOOK says to what, for example, IMDB says. Anyway...

OZU HAT TRICK: PART ONE OF THREE

So it's time, yet again, for a "hat trick" or three films by one director. I decided long ago that if a single director was able to get three of his offerings into the book of "must see" movies, then they at least deserve a little acknowledgement by yours truly. This time around it's Yasujiro Ozu, who not only has three films in THE BOOK, but two of them are from the 1950s, which fits in perfectly with the 50s theme of this season.

I had heard "Tokyo Story" was a (sort of) remake of "Make Way for Tomorrow", which is a film I watched a couple of years ago for THE BOOK. Therefore, I was pretty excited to watch it, but found out quick that it really wasn't that much like "Make Way for Tomorrow" at all. Shukishi (Ryu) and Tomi Hirayama (Higashiyama) are an elderly couple, who had five children. When the film opens they're packing for a trip to Tokyo where they intend to visit two of their children and their daughter-in-law, who was married to their now deceased son. They'll be leaving their youngest daughter, Kyoko, at home and along the way, meeting their youngest son, who'll pick them up at the train station. When they arrive in Tokyo, a city where they've never been and at the home of their eldest son, Dr. Koichi (Yamamura), they settle in and their initial conversation is probably a lot like the initial conversation you'd have with relatives you hadn't seen in a while - all very natural, not too exciting, a round of greetings and then a sit down to catch up. Their eldest daughter, Shige (Sugimura) also meets them at her brother's house, as well as Noriko (Hara), the daughter-in-law, who seems to be the happiest to see them. In fact, after a while, it becomes apparent that the Hirayama children have obviously grown up, they have their own lives now and their parents, although they'd never tell them this, have become more of a burden that a treat. The parents, meanwhile, are like two fish out of water in Tokyo, a city that seemingly has passed them by and has nothing to offer people of their age. After a lengthy visit, the parents decide to return to their home (many miles away) and consider it a swan song of sorts to their children, bracing themselves for the possibility of never seeing them again (because they live so far away). However, during the train ride home, mother is stricken ill and when they arrive home, her condition only worsens.

On paper, "Tokyo Story" looks as if it COULD be called "Tokyo Boring". I mean, a couple of elders go to Tokyo to visit their kids and then....they visit them...then come home!! Judging by some of the comments I came across on places like IMDB and ICheckMovies, apparently it's also a popular opinion to classify this movie as boring and write it off, as I saw many doing just that. "I feel asleep twice while trying to watch this movie" is a quote from an IMDB user that comes to mind. However, despite my long work days and being very tired at night, I managed to not fall asleep once while watching "Tokyo Story" and while it wasn't setting my world on fire or anything, it certainly kept me interested. Check out this quote from THE BOOK:

"...any human activity, however 'unimportant', is worthy of our attention..."\

I agree 100%. You can literally show me ANY human activity and as long as I'm convinced and understand why said person is doing what they're doing, then I'll be drawn to the screen. Show me a man peeling and then eating an orange and I'll watch it intently and write a review on it. "Tokyo Story" comes down to a lot of dialogue and basic human activity and interaction. The dialogue isn't particularly slick or good - it's very normal, everyday talk. However, observing the interactions between these different age groups, between these parents and their, now grown, children is sometimes fascinating. Watching two elders try and keep themselves occupied in a city that is quickly growing and passing them up - also fascinating, at times. "Tokyo Story" relies on the audiences ability to simply observe. There isn't any high drama, there aren't any great climaxes, twist endings or unexpected surprises. Ozu simply shows us a tale and asks us to observe his characters. I didn't LOVE it or anything, nor do I understand such praise that calls it "one of the greatest movies of all-time", however I didn't mind it and found it very easy to get through. The acting wasn't particularly brilliant, however it was very natural and maybe that's what makes brilliant actors - the ability to be as natural as possible. Go in expecting little and you may be pleasantly surprised.

RATING: 7/10  Honestly, that rating could go down with time, but I'm confident giving Ozu's first offering a '7' for now. Next up for Ozu: "Floating Weeds".

MOVIES WATCHED: 619
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 382

February 23, 2013  10:34pm