Ozu made 54 films but 17 are considered lost including his first 7 films. Two other films barely survive while HAHA WO KOWAZUYA is missing it's first and last reels; it is still watchable but it's fairly standard melodrama.
Ozu returns to the theme of the breakdown of a family but it is fairly thin although well performed by the three lead actors.
Sadao and Kosaku's happy life shatters when their father's sudden death leaves them and their mother Chieko alone. A few years later, Sadao discovers he is not Chieko's son but the child of his father's first marriage, he is angry at Chieko for not being told but his uncle pursuades him to forgive his mother.
A few years later, the secret flares up again when both brothers accuse Chieko of favouring the other. Eventually Chieko reveals to Kosaku why his brother dislikes her. Can the family survive?
Shelf or charity shop? A keeper as it is paired with the superior LATE AUTUMN. In later years Ozu-san said the film was only really memorable for him because his own father had died during the filming. But despite the fairly basic melodramatic plot Ozu still builds an intensity in the scenes of family conflict and the tonal shift between the ever-reducing family homes and the shadowy local bordello with it's shuttered windows, striped awning and western film posters - boy, did I jump when Joan Crawford in RAIN appears suddenly! Mitsuko Yoshikawa has the thankless role of the long-suffering mother, much given to collapsing to her knees. It appears to be a family trait as the brothers also crumple easily but I liked the surliness of Den Obinata as Sadao. Ozu's favourite actor Chishu Ryu pops up as Sadao's dissolute student friend while there are nice performances from Yumeko Aizome as an icy prostitute and frequent Ozu performer Choko Iida as the bordello maid.
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