Filmed between Ozu's national service duties - in China between 1937-1939 then Singapore in 1943 - and adhering to Japan's 'national policy', CHICHI ARIKI manages to subvert dogma by alluding to the the emotional cost of 'duty done'.
Existing prints are post-war American versions which excised overt WWII references but Ryohei's army medical exams is evidence enough.
Ozu regular Chishu Ryu is memorable as widower Shuhei Horikawa, a teacher raising his son Ryohei alone. He is a dedicated teacher but is devastated when a pupil drowns on a school trip. Consumed with guilt, Shuhei quits teaching and moves to Tokyo to find work, leaving unhappy Ryohei to board at school.
Years pass: Shuhei is an office worker and Ryohei is teaching. Ryohei tells his father he will leave teaching and move to Tokyo to be together again but Shuihei cannot condone Ryohei's dereliction of duty.
But can duty replace happiness...
Shelf or charity shop? Watching the world from the shelf . Ozu-san again provides an insight into parents and children, all the more impressive that he had to negotiate the Japanese WWII codes of Self-Sacrifice and Duty. Ozu wrote his first version of CHICHI AKIRI after THE ONLY SON was released and both have a similar theme - separated parents and children attempting to heal feelings of failed hopes - but the nuanced performances of Chishu Ryu (aged only 38 while filming) and Shuji Sano as Ryohei make it particularly memorable. Ozu and his mother and siblings had been separated from his father during his teens so he knew the feelings involved but whereas Ryohei fulfills Shuhei's sacrifices, Ozu would avoid school to spend his days in cinemas and was later expelled for writing a love letter to a fellow school-boy. CHICHI AKIRI was voted the 2nd best film in Kinema Junpo magazine's annual poll - number one was Ozu's THE BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE TODA FAMILY!
No comments:
Post a Comment