DVD/150: SANMA NO AJI (AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON) (Yasujiro Ozu, 1962)

After a career spanning 53 films over 35 years, Yasujiro Uzo died in 1963 from throat cancer.  His final film was released the previous year, SANMA NO AJI.

Ozu again focusses on a middle-class family as Japan embraces modernity.

Widower Hirayama lives with daughter Michiko and younger son Kazuo.  His older son Koichi is married to nagging Akiko who wants all the latest gadgets.

Hirayama is nagged by old friends Kawai and Horie to get Michiko married - although she doesn't want to - and Hirayama reflects on this after meeting the sad daughter of his school professor who is stuck looking after him.

Koichi's friend - who Machiko quietly likes - admits he has a girlfriend, so Kawai suggests a man he knows.

Michiko relents and marries. but after the wedding Hirayama is alone: dressed in his best suit someone asks did he attend a funeral and he replies "Something like that". 

Shelf or charity shop?  A shelf on it's own.  A perfect distillation of Ozu's themes and pure, spare storytelling.  While preparing the script with regular co-writer Kogo Noda, Ozu's beloved mother died which cast a pall over the process and there is a sadness lurking in the corners of the film which comes into it's own at the end when Hirayama returns home to the house he now only shares with his youngest son who obviously will soon leave too. Ozu's film pops with Ozu regular Yuharu Atsuta's Fujicolour cinematography and the score by Ozu's collaborator Kojun Saito.  As always Ozu drew great performances from some favourite actors: Ryuji Kita and Nobuo Nakamura are delightful as Harayama's interfering friends, Kyoko Kishida is eye-catching as a friendly bar owner, while Haruko Sugimura, in her 9th Ozu film, has only one scene but is sensational as the old teacher's sad daughter.  Keiji Sada and Mariko Okada are good as Hirayama's bickering son and daughter-in-law while Shima Iwashita has a rare gravity as Machiko. But above all, Ozu's favourite actor Chishu Ryu is wonderful as Hirayama, beautifully underplayed and heartbreaking in his sozzled loneliness.  Although the film seems like the perfect 'last film', Ozu was working on a new project when he sadly died on his 60th birthday.  He was buried with his mother, the gravestone bears no name just the Japanese character for 'nothingness'.

Arigato Ozu-san, arigato.

DVD/150: BAKUSHU (Early Summer, Yasujiro Ozu, 1951)

The second of Ozu's 'Noriko' trilogy explores the tensions within a seemingly happy family as they interfere in the life of the 28 year-old daughter.

Three generations of the Mamiya family live together in Kanagawa: parents Shukichi and Shige, son Koichi, his wife Fumiko and their two demanding boys, and unmarried Noriko, who works as a secretary in Tokyo.

A visiting uncle chides Noriko about being unmarried at the same time as her boss insists she keep some photos of his unmarried golf partner who is an older business man.  Soon everyone in Noriko's orbit, including her unmarried best friend Aya, has an opinion about when she marries.

Noriko had another brother who remains missing-presumed-killed in WWII and when a schoolfriend of his announces he is leaving the area to work in the rural north of Japan, Noriko makes a decision which shocks everyone.

Shelf or charity shop?  A keeper as it's one of Ozu's most deceptive films: the film starts almost like a gentle comedy of manners as the Mamiya family en masse decide that Noriko needs a husband but when the shadow of the War dead appears, the film becomes more sombre as the whole family realize that Noriko's marriage will end their cosy life.  Setsuko Hara is marvellous as Noriko, who suddenly finds herself subjected to everyone's prying into her life; when she finally breaks towards the end, it is heartbreaking.  She is surrounded by excellent performances from the Ozu repertory company: my favourite, Chishu Ryu, plays against type as the authoritarian older brother Koichi, Ichiro Sugai and Chieko Higashiyama are fine as the parents - a role Chieko would perfect two years later in TOKYO STORY - as are Chikage Awashima as Noriko's friend Aya and Haruko Sugimura as the neighbour whose son becomes Noriko's surprise husband.  It should also be mentioned that Ozu draws out of his two child actors cheeky and fun performances.  

As always, arigato Ozu-san.

DVD/150: TOKYO MONOGATARI (Tokyo Story) (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953)

Last year I found relief from lockdown stresses in the films of Yasujiro Ozu on the BFI Player, my favourite was the profound TOKYO STORY.

Ozu based it on Leo McCarey's 1937 Hollywood film MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW.

Shukichi and Tomi visit Tokyo to see their oldest children: son Koichi, his wife and sons, daughter Shige and her husband, and their daughter-in-law Noriko, the widow of their son killed in WW2.

Their younger son Keizo lives in Osaka and the youngest daughter Kyoko lives at home.

On arrival they find Koichi and Shige are too busy to spend time with them, only Noriko is happy to show them the city and spend an evening with them.

Their children pay for a spa visit but they cannot settle and decide to return home early.

Tomi is taken ill on the train; now it is the children who return home...

Shelf or charity shop?  In a class - and a shelf - of it's own.  It was first shown in London four years later and won the first-ever Sutherland trophy for the most original and creative film shown at the NFT, and received it's first US release in 1972; bizarrely Japanese exporters thought Ozu 'too Japanese' for Western audiences while happily exporting Samurai and feudal ghost films.  Deceptively simple, Ozu packs a deep emotional resonance that lingers long after the film ends: it's weighty themes of the disappointments within families, death, absence, and perseverence are handled with a delicacy of touch that is astounding - where 99.9% of directors would go for award-worthy emotional grandstanding, Ozu closes the door quietly on his characters to give them their space.  Ozu and co-writer Koga Noda's story is told at a steady pace, giving his cast - and us - a chance to walk alongside the characters.  Ozu had his own little 'rep' company of performers and here he cast Haruko Sagimura - who won a Japanese Supporting Actress award - as Shige the eldest daughter who balks at spending time with her parents and Nobuo Nakamura as her complaisant husband.  Kyoko Kagawa - in her only Ozu film - is very good as the youngest daughter who makes the quiet observation at the end "Isn't life disappointing?"  Three performances however go beyond acting: Chieko Higashiyama is Tomi, the ever-smiling mother who sees good in everyone - the scene where she goes for a walk with her grandson who ignores her attempts to chat will break your heart - the luminous Setsuko Hara as Noriko, the loving daughter-in-law and Ozu's favourite actor Chishu Ryu as the father Shukichi; the film slowly reveals the hard times he put his wife through during their marriage but his loss at the end is palpable.

Arigato Ozu-san, arigato..

DVD/150: BANSHUN (LATE SPRING) (Yasujiro Ozu, 1949)

My 2020 highlight was discovering director Yazsujiro Ozu, watching 25 of his films on the BFI Player.  I had only seen one before and that was BANSHUN (LATE SPRING).

Ozu's meticulous framing, low-level cinematography and having actors address the camera in conversation casts a hypnotic spell as do the 'pillow' scene transitions - shots of trains, buildings, or restaurant and bar signs.

His 54 silent and sound films scanned 1927 to 1962 but BANSHUN explored the shomingeki genre of ordinary working and middle class familes.

 

Widower Professor Somiya and his 27 year-old daughter Noriko live contentedly together until Noriko's aunt says it's time Noriko was married.  Noriko doesn't want to leave her father alone but her aunt says she has a widow in mind for Somiya, leaving Noriko with confused emotions. 

 

Agreeing to her aunt's choice of husband, Noriko and Somiya have a last trip before life changes.

 

Shelf or charity shop?  It's what shelves were made for. BANSHUN is deservedly 15th on the current Sight & Sound Greatest Films of All-Time list.  Ozu's film is deceptively simple but resonates in the mind with it's universal themes of family, society's expectations, and sacrifice but also because of the performances from the two lead performers.  Chisu Ryu is remarkable as the taciturn Somiya; Ryu appeared in 52 of Ozu's 54 films, rising from extra to star and here his every "Hmmm" and "ahh" are loaded with meaning.  Setsuko Hara was already a star when Ozu chose her to play Noriko, and she is unforgettable.  She and Chisu went on to appear together in six more Ozu films including the magnificent TOKYO MONOGATARI (TOKYO STORY) which is listed 3rd in the same Sight & Sound Greatest Films list.  Another actress who appeared regularly for Ozu was Haruko Sugimura who is fine here as the matchmaking aunt and Yumeji Tsukioka is a delight as Hara's 'modern' cousin who has a job and is about to embark on her second marriage. One for the ages...