Ozu5 by Lewis Saul

*45. Ochazuke no aji (Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice) (10/1/52) (115 min.) [Sound B&W] [buy it here]

A middle-aged, middle-class couple experience a crisis in their marriage. With no children to create a bond, married life has lost its meaning in routine. They both attempt to improve and hence create a stronger marriage.

• All-regions DVD.
• This somewhat unusual film is sandwiched between two great masterpieces, Early Summer and Tokyo Story. Hopefully this pic is being considered as a Criterion Collection candidate. It is not in the same league as the above-mentioned films, but it is a very good film.
• Ozu pulled this script out of the drawer -- it is the same one that the Japanese censors rejected in 1941. The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family took its place.
• In the original script, the husband was going off to war. "Rather than the customary rich ceremonial food, they decide on a dish that is among the most simple, the most Japanese. It was to have been a gentle, intimate, reflective film, filled with observations of Japanese character in times of stress" (Richie, p. 227).
• Obviously, the script had to be radically altered in this 1952 version. The husband is going to Uruguay on business instead of going off to fight the Americans. The simple dinner happens as a reconciliation between a quarrelling couple.
• Nevertheless, the denouement here always brings tears to my eyes.
• Shin Saburi (Mokichi) is quite good as this rather subdued character. He made four other films with Ozu.
• Michiyo Kogure (Taeko) likewise, who is here asked to make a fairly major character transformation. This is rare in Ozu -- most characters never go through such dramatic changes. This is her only appearance in an Ozu film.
• Keiko Tsushima (Setsuko) also makes her only Ozu appearance.
• The score is by Ichirô Saitô -- 147 IMDb credits! He scored two other Ozu films (Record of a Tenement Gentleman [1947] and The Munekata Sisters [1950]) as well as three great Mizoguchi masterpieces, Life of Oharu (1952), Ugetsu (1953) and A Geisha (1953).
• His score here is very fitting. Like the film, it moves and sweeps and is certainly more upbeat than most Ozu scores.
• For example, the overture, played over the opening credits, is most unusual for an Ozu film, containing dramatic ups and downs, big crescendi, deceptive cadences -- until it finally settles on a major chord -- pause -- (director's credit) -- he puts the third of the chord on top ...
• Taeko and Setsuko are in a big touring car (jaunty, almost jazzy piano)

Some outstanding moments:

• Aya, the "modern girl" (Chikage Awashima) owns her own dress shop.
• 0:08:27: Aya and Taeko have hatched a conspiracy to go away -- girls only -- to a spa. Taeko calls her husband at work, ready to lie to him, but he isn't there. Where is he? Ozu shows us his empty desk ("Machinery Dept.") ...
• 0:08:34: The workplace; filing cabinets, backs of men working, windows ...
• 0:08:42: Through a window, looking down on the street ...
• 0:08:50: Sign: "Echo Bar" ...
• 0:08:58: Man drinking -- but it's not Mokichi, it's his friend, Noboru (Koji Tsuruta) ...
• 0:09:19: Mokichi arrives.

 The characters sing a lot in this film:

• 0:11:29: Noboru sings, Mokichi keeps time with his fingers ...
• 0:22:11: Aya begins a song at the spa ...
• 0:44:21: Ryu sings a wartime song ...

Ozu wants to take us into the Satake home from the previous bar scene.

• 0:12:02: Left of frame: a cabinet; right, a table, a few cups. Ozu gently pulls back the camera just a wee bit to take in the room ... then we follow the maid through the house as she brings a tray to Taeko ...
• 0:13:23: As usual, there is a mirror for the previous camera movement. Now he moves it gently forward, following the couple down a hallway ...
• 0:17:57: Camera fixed outside train -- in this film, these shots have flashier impact than in other films. The telephone poles and bridge supports seem to barely miss hitting the camera! (another great train shot occurs at 1:22:14.)
• 0:21:35: At the spa, Taeko lies to her husband on the telephone. She hangs up on him and then immediately picks up the receiver again, and -- thinking she is talking to the operator -- says, "More sake, please." She realizes he is still on the line. The women don't make much of it -- but "Mr. Thick-head" would certainly have figured that one out. (In the end, we learn that he knew exactly what his wife was doing.)
• 0:32:18: More parallel camera movements. Here, back at the house (from a baseball game) we see the empty room and hear the door buzzer as the camera pulls back. Taeko arrives home to find Setsuko there. "I'll never call my husband Mr. Fat-head" ...
• 0:35:36: And the camera pushes forward on Mokichi at his desk ...
• 0:36:00: More parallelism: The President wants to talk with Mokichi. The meeting is interrupted, but The President tells his father-in-law, who had come to visit, that he'll probably send Mokichi abroad soon. At 1:23:23 he tells him ...
• 0:40:14: Chishu Ryu is Sadao Hirayama, who runs the pachinko parlor ...
• 0:48:12: From Early Summer: Identical pillow shots leading into the Kabuki theatre scene. Identical pan down the aisle, except here we the camera stops on Taeko and a man we've not seen before (Setsuko's suitor) ...
• 1:08:05: Mokichi brings things to a head with Taeko: "If you force her (Setsuko) to marry, she'll end up like us." Taeko is a bitter and angry woman. Her transformation is staggering ...
• 1:28:20: Airplane taking off ...
• 1:35:33: From here on, Ozu does an amazing job with stillness of character. With no dialogue, Taeko sits at Mokichi's desk and begins to regret her behavior ... some gorgeous interior pillows ... and the clock strikes eleven bells. Mokichi is back (plane trouble).
• The rest of the film is both filled emotional resonance and just the right amount of humorous interplay. As they make the Ochazuke, we hear the clock strike twelve.
• 1:55:00: The film ends with Setsuko and Noboru playfully courting.
• This film was released the day after my birth.

*46. Tôkyô monogatari (Tokyo Story) (11/3/53) (136 min.) [Sound B&W] [buy it here]

An elderly couple, living in Onomichi in the south of Japan, go to Tokyo to visit their two married children. Their reception is disappointing: both the son and the daughter are busy with their own lives and send their parents off to the hot springs resort of Atami, ostensibly as a treat, actually to get rid of them. The only one who is truly nice to them is the widow of their other son, who had died in the war. After the old couple return home, the children receive a telegram saying the mother is ill. When they all arrive in Onomichi, the mother is dead. After the funeral the children rush back to Tokyo, but the daughter-in-law stays on. She confesses that living as a widow is difficult for her, and the father advises her to remarry. Then, alone, he sits in the empty house.

On many Top Ten lists ...

• The 2-disc Criterion DVD is packed with goodies:
  • David Bordwell essay
  • Commentary by film scholar David Desser
  • Original trailer
  • 2-hour documentary "I Lived, But ..." (1983) about the life and career of Ozu
  • 40-minute tribute "Talking With Ozu" (1993) with Stanley Kwan, Aki Kaurismaki, Claire Denis, Lindsay Anderson, Paul Schrader, Wim Wenders and Hou Hsiao-hsien
    • Great moment: Aki Kaurismaki bows before photographs of Ozu and says, "I've made 11 lousy films thanks to you."

This is Ozu's 46th film; by now it is evident that he has honed technique, form and style to the finest degree -- Up to now, I've discussed film structure; how scenes are bookended by pillow shots, parallelism in script and camera movement, filmic rhythm, etc. In this film, I will concentrate on the characters themselves, the way Ozu creates and develops them, and the actors who bring them to life:

Chishu Ryu (Shukishi Hirayama)

• Shukishi is an elderly man married to Tomi. They live in peaceful Onomichi, 461 miles southwest of Tokyo.

• They stop in Osaka on both trips; Ozu only shows us the return trip.
• They have five children: Koichi, Shige, Shoji (deceased), Keizo and Kyôko. Shukishi is a mild and gentle soul. With his wife, he is of course completely at ease and familiar.
• When she can't find the air cushion, he insists that he already gave it to her. When proven wrong, he doesn't apologize, and Tomi doesn't seem upset. No big deal.
• In Tokyo, he is seemingly happy, content to see his family. Everyone chuckles when the cute grandsons are rude.
• When Noriko comes upstairs to visit, Shukishi's smile and conversation tells us that this is someone he cares for a great deal.
• After Noriko and Shige leave, Ozu holds on Shukishi, Tomi and Koichi, who looks like he's about to say something. Two cuts later, he says "You must be tired, father." The parents go upstairs, but when Tomi asks "Aren't you tired?" Shukishi answers, "Not really."
• The family outing is cancelled; Koichi has a medical emergency. Tomi and Isamu have gone for a walk, Minoru is sulking, which leaves Fumiko and her father-in-law alone for conversation. "Aren't you disappointed?" she asks -- obviously referring to the cancelled outing but the larger disappointment is palatable.
• They have moved to Shige's place -- the "Ooh-La-La Beauty Parlor." Shukishi is sitting up on the roof, enjoying the view of Tokyo.
• Ozu once told Ryu to erase all expression from his face by thinking of a Noh mask. On the bus tour of the city with Noriko, Ryu seems to express his happiness in this manner. Later, at Noriko's apartment, he again seems supremely comfortable. He becomes nearly radiant after she serves him sake. Even Tomi's recalling of what a terrible drunk he used to be doesn't seem to diminish his spirit.
• The kids have shuffled their parents off to Atami, a hot springs. At first, they seem quite content ("The sea is so quiet.") In short order, however, we find that the place gets noisier as the night gets longer. They try to sleep, but cannot. Shukichi shows his annoyance with the way he slaps his fan.
• They sit on an embankment overlooking the sea, talking about the sleepless night. When Tomi gets dizzy, Shukichi looks concerned, but chalks it up to a bad night's sleep.
• A scene filled with irony: The grandparents want to go home. Shige -- who is bawling them out for not staying at the hot springs for a longer period of time -- is being completely rude and disingenuous ("I was planning to take you to see the Kabuki"). After Shige leaves, watch as the old couple exchange silent glances. They've basically been kicked out of their daughter's home and as Shukichi says, "We're really homeless now," pay attention to the way they laugh about it.
  • This is mono no aware. an important Japanese expression that is difficult to translate. After reading this Wiki article, you will have a much greater appreciation of the many times Ozu's characters react in this way.
• We now get to watch Shukichi get drunk. For the most part, he is a happy drunk -- but, as in most cases of drunkenness, the truth always seems to rise to surface. He is definitely not satisfied with the way his children and grandchildren have turned out.
• He returns to Shige's with Numata, both of them so drunk they can barely stand up.
• The next time we see him is at the train station, ready to go home. He's sobered up and reassured everyone that the previous night was a one-time "reunion."
• Mother is recovering in Osaka. Alone, the two of them have one of their intimate between-the-lines conversation about their family.
• Back in Onomichi, Tomi is dying. Kyôto leaves for the train station, leaving the old couple alone. Ryu is extraordinary here. Watch his face and how with a few blinks, a twitch of the lip, he conveys the depth of Shukichi's anguish.
• Koichi tells Shukichi and Shige that Tomi will not last through the night. Again, Ozu and Ryu create an extraordinary reaction here, especially in contrast to Shige.
• 1:47:46: An eight-second hold on Ryu, his face contorted, swallowing hard. Extraordinary.
• Keizo has finally arrived. As he looks at his dead mother, Koichi wonders where father is. Noriko goes to find him outside:
  • "Father ... Keizo has just arrived."
  • "Oh. It was such a beautiful dawn."
  • Noriko turns and looks towards the rising sun. "I'm afraid we'll have another hot day today."
• Westerners might think the old man is getting senile or something ... however, this is just another example of mono no aware. The routine sweetness of life (the sunrise) intersects his grief.
• His expressions at the funeral are profound.
• I imagine that people of almost any culture can identify with the post-funeral feast. Here we see that Shukichi -- for from being senile or overwrought -- is very happy to be in the company of his family.
• The final scene with Noriko once again shows his comfort level with his daughter-in-law; he speaks from his heart and smiles broadly when Noriko admits that she sometimes goes days without thinking of Shoji. "I'll be happy if you forget him."
• He gives her Tomi's watch. 2:11:13: "Please believe me. I want you to be happy." His eyes are deep, soulful and brimming with unshed tears. Magical.
• More mono no aware. Shukichi's neighbor returns to parallel the scene from the beginning of the film. He smiles broadly, saying: "She was a headstrong woman, but if I had known things would come to this, I'd have been kinder to her while she was alive.". You will be lonely," she says as she shuffles off, also smiling broadly.
• 2:14:46: Ozu holds for about 16 seconds on Ryu. Watch as his face tightens and we glimpse something quite poignant and very real.

Chieko Higashiyama (Tomi Hirayama)

• She made only two films with Ozu; this and Early Summer.
• For much of the film, she is loving, meek and deferential towards her husband and they seem to get along quite well. However, she chides him about his drinking at Noriko's apartment; he doesn't seem to mind ...
• Shige is incredibly insulting and insensitive about the time Tomi broke a chair. They all laugh it off as they go down the stairs.
• Her scene with little Isamu is a thing of beauty. Ozu alternates between an extremely wide shot and an intimate close-up, as Tomi wonders to herself and eerily predicts her short future.

Sô Yamamura (Koichi Hirayama)

• Koichi, the eldest son, seems like a nice enough guy at first. He brings the suitcases upstairs, but when Tomi wants to give him a gift from Keizo, he waves her off; she can give it to him later. He's in a rush. Noriko would never act this way.
• Shige and Fumiko are discussing what to feed them when Koichi comes downstairs.
  • Shige: "What about some meat?" Cut to Koichi, though Shige continues to speak (rare in Ozu, btw): "Maybe sukiyaki."
  • Koichi: "That sounds good."
  • Fumiko: "And some sashimi."
  • Koichi: "We don't need that too.
  • Shige: "Oh meat's enough. We'll just have sukiyaki."
• Noriko's arrival interrupts the conversation. But it seems that Fumiko -- the daughter-in-law -- cares more about treating the old folks well than either Koichi or Shige. She is a close second to Noriko, the other daughter-in-law.
• But Koichi does mean well. He plans to take the whole family on a Sunday outing. It is not his fault that a sick child requires his attention and the trip must be postponed (although both the characters and the audience knows that it is really a cancellation).
• Koichi is easily persuaded to pitch in some money to send the parents to Atami. It seems as if he'll go along with anything Shige says.
• We see him next at the train station, saying goodbye. In Onomichi, where his mother's death allows him to act the part of the eldest son, he orders Keizo to "look at her." Koichi is stoic.
• Again, he allows Shige to take the lead. Father has just come back into the room and thanks everyone for coming. He innocently relates Tomi's dizzy spell in Atami, and Shige scolds him for not having at least told Koichi, the doctor.
  • Koichi: "But that wasn't the cause. She was overweight, so the illness came on suddenly."
  • Shige: "So ... it's just like a dream." A quick beat, she turns her head to Koichi and says: "When you are leaving?" And they agree to take the night express.

Haruko Sugimura (Shige Kaneko)

• Befitting its status as a great masterpiece, Ozu presents us with a character of great complexity and ambiguity. Although it is certainly plausible to see in this character a completely selfish, mean-spirited daughter, I personally believe Ozu wanted us to work hard as an audience to see the shades of gray in play here.
  • 0:11:14: She's brought some crackers that she bought in the neighborhood for her parents.
  • 0:11:51: She rounds up her shy nephews to introduce them to their grandparents.
  • 0:13:22: See above food discussion. She's a bit cheap, it seems.
  • 0:16:00: She insults her mother.
  • 0:18:38: This is interesting. Shukichi mentions Hattori and both Koichi and Shige remember him. However, she must not remember too well (did she inherit her mother's forgetfulness?) because when later Hattori shows up drunk in the middle of the night, he's a "stranger."
  • 0:19:15: Koichi says he'll take them sightseeing tomorrow (which gets cancelled) and Shige takes the opportunity to say goodnight. She leaves with Noriko.
  • 0:22:20: With two pillow shots (speckled clouds, smokestacks), Ozu takes us to the Ooh-La-La Beauty Parlor. With typical playfulness, we see a woman sweeping the storefront / cut / and dusting the interior of the shop ... only on the cut do we discover that it is not Shige, but her assistant (Junko Anan, sole IMDb credit).
  • 0:22:53: Again, we see an in-law who seems more considerate than his spouse, the actual daughter!
    • "Shouldn't I go see them?"
    • "Don't bother. They'll come here anyway."
    • CU: "I'll take them to a show or something."
    • "You needn't bother."
    • "These beans are good ... What are they doing today?"
    • "Don't eat them all up. Today my brother's taking them somewhere."
    • "Really? Then I'm free."
    • "Breakfast time, Kiyo-chan."
    • (offscreen): "Hai." [This is the only time we hear the voice of their {seemingly} only child.]
  • 0:32:05: Kurazo has again showed his in-laws a kindness by buying them some expensive cakes.
    • Shige: "They don't need such expensive cakes." They each bite into a cake.
    • Kurazo: "Good, huh?"
    • "Good, but too expensive. Crackers would have been good enough for them."
    • "But they had crackers yesterday."
    • "They like them."
  • You begin to dislike this woman.
  • 0:35:28: Shige tells Mother to use her "old" sandals when they go to the bathhouse.
  • She then calls Noriko. At the end of the phone call, it is clear to the audience who really can afford to take time off and who cannot, but will anyway.
  • 0:45:29: The plot to send them to Atami ...
  • 0:56:57: ... and her annoyance at their early return. After they go upstairs, the customer in the chair asks who they are and Shige responds, "just friends from the country."
  • 0:58:38: The parents are ready to go home. "It's too soon," Shige says. "You don't come up to Tokyo very often." But she has to kick them out in any case because she needs the house for a meeting that evening
  • 1:17:40: A typically gorgeous transition: Noriko is in bed, crying, her head oriented to the left side / cut / beauty parlor interior, still, the sound of a train / cut / Shige, asleep, her head oriented to the right side.
  • Shige is pretty annoyed at her drunken father. Who wouldn't be?
  • 1:38:41: The telegram said "critically ill." Shige seems so coldhearted as she and Koichi make arrangements to leave: "At this busy time, too."
  • 1:39:38: "Let's take mourning clothes, but hope we don't need them."
  • 1:46:19: Her mother is dying. This reaction might be the one true glimpse we are given of the human being, Shige Kaneko. In the next scenes, after the death, she is back to alternating between spouting platitudes and seeing to details like mourning clothes for Noriko and Kyôko.
  • 1:58:31: "It may sound heartless to say so, but I rather wish he had died first." Cut to Koichi, a bit confused and back on Shige: "If Kyoko marries, he'll be left all alone ... we could have looked after Mother in Tokyo." However, heartless this may actually sound to our ears, Shige is just being practical in revealing her true feelings. However, she immediately shows her true character when she turns to Kyôko and begins claiming her mother's possessions.

The character of Shige might just be more universal than we'd care to comfortably acknowledge. She loves her parents, of course, but is busily ensconced in her daily affairs and -- like most of us, I should think -- is unable to live up to, and remains more or less oblivious of, the high saintly standards set by someone like Noriko.

Setsuko Hara (Noriko Hirayama)

• 0:13:40: She just missed them at the station. She arrives with a gift and immediately goes upstairs to see her in-laws.
• Indulge me for a moment while I break down a space of filmic time in order to try and show how Ozu created Poetry in Moving Images:
  • 0:13:59: As Noriko goes up the stairs, notice how both Koichi and Fumiko also turn towards the left, leaving shadows and then nothing. The effect is similar to that of a horizontal wipe.
  • 0:14:03: Mother and Father. Look carefully at the screen space. As they unpack, they keep their heads low, and a kind of inverted triangle forms in the space between their bodies.
  • 0:14:08: Noriko enters and kneels, filling up that exact space, framed between them. "Welcome to Tokyo." Even as they bow to each other, the fluidity of the spaces between the characters suggests a kind of image ballet. Ozu then begins to cut to close-ups so that we can more intimately enter into the lives of these characters. This film is filled with such wondrous compositions.
• We don't see Noriko again after this until Shige calls her at work and gets her to take over the hosting duties.
• 0:38:43: I needed commentary to learn that this is a department store (perhaps the same one that Koichi had planned for the previous Sunday), which has a roof with good views of the city.
• We see the three of them looking at various views, and finally Ozu shows us a fine wide-shot.
• He then cuts to a rather rundown-looking tenement, smoke billowing, laundry hanging. We are meant to understand that we are now at Noriko's apartment (which we are) ...
• ... but Ozu surprises us. We expect to see Noriko, but instead we see her neighbor (Sachiko Mitani). A knock on the door, re-introduces Noriko in a most unusual way. (Note the sleeping baby under the mosquito-netting tent after Ozu reverses the initial camera angle.)
• We get wonderful character development in the scenes back at her shabby apartment. She goes out of her way to borrow sake and cups for her father-in-law and orders take-in, as well. They are happy to see the photograph of their dead son. She is most dutiful and attentive.
• 1:13:31: When we next see her, Noriko is giving Mother a massage.
• 1:22:58: She gives her a present -- some spending money. Obviously, everyone in this family is better off than Noriko; yet we see her doing this ... a touching scene, perhaps a bit overly sentimental ...
• 1:37:14: Noriko receives the news that Mother is ill while at work. When she sits down, Ozu gives her a 20-second CU with a mournful music cue. Her expression is both unfathomable and rich with soulful reflection ...
• 1:55:36: When Keizo leaves the funeral service, Noriko follows him. "I can't lose her now. None can serve their parents beyond the grave." Noriko listens and Ozu takes his time following her back into the service.
• 2:03:18: Everyone else has left. Only Noriko and Kyôzo remain behind with Father in Onomichi. Ozu now hands the film over into Hara's capable hands for the final scenes. First, after making Kyôko her lunch, she tries to explain that the other adults aren't necessarily selfish (see Shige commentary above), but that this is how things are. Kyôko:
  • "Isn't life disappointing?"
  • Noriko, with that perfect mono no aware smile, says it all: "Yes, it is."
• The final scene with Father brings all emotion to a head. When he gives Noriko Mother's watch, we realize that both parents and Noriko are forever connected in a way that will never be true of Koichi or Shige. Noriko is very hard on herself, but as we see her objectively -- and through Father's eyes, as well -- we see that this is just an honest soul who is wrestling with the ups and downs of life -- but she is aware!

Kyôko Kagawa (Kyôko Hirayama)

• 0:03:47: Kyôko has made her parents box lunches for the train ride.
• 0:04:42: We follow her as she makes her way to school. Notice how she bows towards the little boy who comes out of a nearby house.
• We will not see Kyôko again until 1:40:13.
• 1:41:30: Ozu mirrors the earlier cut -- here she bows to some little girls.
• 2:03:09: A nice echo: just as Kyôko made lunches for her parents, here Noriko makes lunch for Kyôko.

Shirô Osaka (Keizo Hirayama)

• Keizo is somewhat of a cipher, and Ozu uses his famous narrative ellipsis on him in a manner which leaves us with very little information. We only hear about him until very late in the picture. In many ways, he is a Shige duplicate; perhaps he is more aware than his sister that they are not really very filial.

Kuniko Miyake (Fumiko [Ayako] Hirayama)

• When Noriko tells Kyôko that she will become like the other adults "in spite of herself" she might have Fumiko in mind.
• Fumiko is as dutiful and thoughtful as any in-law could be. But with her husband running his medical practice out of their home and two active boys to mother, she finds herself just doing the best she can -- like the rest of us.

Nobuo Nakamura (Kurazo Kaneko)

• Ditto for Kurazo. He tries, but is rebuffed by his wife.

Eijirô Tôno (Sanpei Numata)

• 205 IMDb credits. He was Gonji, the tavern keeper in Kurosawa's Yojimbo.

Toyo Takahashi (Shukichi's neighbor)

• She is the shiny bookend at both ends of the film, wishing the old folks a good trip at the beginning, and telling Shukichi that he'll be lonely at the end. Same smile, same slow crawl out of frame ...

*47. Sôshun (Early Spring) (1/29/56) (144 min.) [Sound B&W] [buy it here]

A young salaried office worker is bored with both his job and his wife. He has a slight affair with the office flirt; he and his wife quarrel. Later he accepts a transfer to the country. She goes to him and they agree to start again.

• It is interesting that Criterion made the decision to issue five of the next seven Ozu films on their budget label Eclipse -- the third volume in the label's series. Interesting because Eclipse releases never have any commentary or extras -- as quoted on the website: "... Eclipse is a selection of lost, forgotten, or overshadowed classics in simple, affordable editions."
• So these five are -- what -- lost? [not particularly] forgotten? [I guess so, at least in the West] or overshadowed [absolutely!] ... the other four films in the set are Tokyo Twilight (1957), Equinox Flower (1958), Late Autumn (1960) and The End of Summer (1961).
• In any case, after the great success of his last film, various events conspired to make the release date of this film more than two full years after the Tokyo Story release.
• The script took a long time to write. "They kidded me at the company," Ozu wrote, "saying I'd better call the fim Raishun (Next Spring)" (Richie, p. 240).
• At two hours and 24 minutes, this is the longest running time of any Ozu film.
• In my opinion, this film is just as lovely, just as well put together, just as sublime, as -- say --  Tokyo Story ... Ozu agreed with me, saying in 1958, that he was disappointed in American critics who applauded Tokyo Story but failed to appreciate Early Spring:
  • "Foreigners ... only follow the story. They cannot understand the life of salaried men, ephemerality, and the atmosphere outside of the story at all" (Nolletti, Jr. and Desser: Reframing Japanese Cinema, p. 108). 
  • Which goes to prove that Ozu was way ahead of his time. Hopefully, most of us can finally appreciate a great film like Early Spring, despite it's status as a dim shadow cast by the cultural behemoth which is Tokyo Story ....
• 0:10:55: As we've seen, there is so little camera movement in late Ozu that when it does occur it has a very subtle but powerful effect. Here he pushes in on the door to Room 729.
• 0:13:22: Chishu Ryu makes his regular appearance as Onodera, mentor to Shoji Sugiyama (Ryô Ikebe).
  • The casting of Shoji, his wife, Masako (Chikage Awashima, previously Aya in several Ozu pics), and "Goldfish" (Keiko Kishi) -- the younger generation -- was apparently strongly recommended from the Shokichi suits. Ozu -- always sensitive to box office -- went along. As a result, it is refreshing to see some new faces.
• 0:22:21: Again, we notice the camera moving: this is an near duplicate of a shot from Late Spring. In that film, he cuts from the dolly shot of the sea to the two friends on bicycles. Here, they are hiking. On pavement.
• 0:24:41: Ozu never explicitly condemns Goldfish's character. He does show us, however, that she is an extremely outgoing young woman. Here she boldly stops a truck so that she and Shoji can hitch a ride ... the camera stays with the couple's POV, on the hikers, who get smaller and smaller before the cut ...
• 0:25:57: Masako's mother (Kumeko Urabe), is a great character, who gets the larger picture. She worked mainly with Mizoguchi (15 films), but made two films each with both Ozu and Kurosawa (she was Uncle's wife in Ikiru).
• 0:41:55: A repeat of the earlier push-in on Room 729.
• 0:44:25: A kiss is rare enough in an Ozu fim -- this one between a single girl and a married man seems absolutely scandalous! Ozu interrupts the kiss with a shot of a pivoting electric fan -- suggesting perhaps that things need to cool off.
• 0:45:50: The affair is beautifully elided: In the previous scene, Goldfish is humming / cut / old wooden boat dock with tall vertical poles filling the frame / cut / his and hers clothes hanging up / cut / the couple, wearing matching kimonos ...
• 0:53:45: Large poster for East of Eden (1955) on the wall.
• 0:57:50: Masako's neighbor, Tamako (Haruko Sugimura) is telling her about the time she caught her husband with another woman. "There he was, cutting up dried bonito." In the very next scene, she has her husband cut up some dried bonito for their dinner.
• 1:03:11: As in a similar scene from Tokyo Story, Shoji brings home his drunk buddies with him (Daisuke Katô and Kôji Mitsui).
• 1:17:30: She is at her mother's shop.
  • "Such vulgar people. And he calls them friends ... they laugh at such silly things"
  • Mother: "But remember, they faced bullets together. Soldiers like that."
  • "No wonder Japan lost the war."
• 1:26:00: Poor Goldfish gets quite a grilling from the guys.
• 1:36:00: Masako has good reason to suspect Shoji. But when he comes home from visiting his dying colleague, she doesn't believe him.
• 2:05:47: We finally meet Masako's brother, Koichi (Masami Taura), who is talking to his mother about Masako's situation.
  • His mother sighs, "After all, it's a man's world."
  • "You're old-fashioned, mother."
  • "Old or new, men never change."
• 2:15:29: Goldfish is no shrinking violet. Her attitude and awareness shine through as she sincerely wishes her ex-lover goodbye.
• 2:20:28: I like the way Ozu shows us Masako's arrival in Mitsuishi. Shoji is coming home from work. He kicks off his shoes and says, "I"m back," and we think that maybe ... but he goes up the stairs and it is obvious that he was talking to his landlady.
• 2:20:36: He enters the empty room. We, the audience, can see a dress hanging up and soms suitcases in the lower right, but Shoji is walking straight towards the camera. He puts down his briefacase and starts to sit down / cut on action / CU, he gets one sock off before he says the suitcases. The lovely reconciliation follows.

I really think that Kojun Saitô's score is very appropriate and lovely. For example, in the opening credits, check out the way he uses the harp which comes to a cadence before the actors' credits and then rebuilds up until the final credit (Ozu's). He was Ozu's main composer from Tokyo Story until the end.  

*48. Tôkyô boshoku (Tokyo Twilight) (4/30/57) (141 min.) [Sound B&W] [buy it here]

A father lives alone with his two daughters. The elder has left her husband and returned with her child. The younger is having an affair that results in an abortion. The daughters discover that their mother, whom they thought dead, is staying nearby, having left their father years before to live with another man. The discovery shatters them. The younger girl finally kills herself, the elder returns to her husband. The father is left alone.

• Probably the darkest of all the Ozu films.
• From the Late Ozu set on Eclipse.
• The last B&W film.
• 0:08:21: A beautiful unique shot of Ryu (Shukichi Sugiyama) framed in the window of the front door. Not only that, but we can see his reflection on the inside mirror. Very beautiful shot.
• 0:10:00: Setsuko Hara (Takako) is back after an absence of one film. Here, her father asks about her husband, from whom she has just separated. Her terse expression clues us in to her feelings.
• 0:11:06: From the moment we first see the younger sister, Akiko (Ineko Arima), we know that something is wrong. She is moody, sullen and icy...
• 0:23:00: The one and only scene with Takako's husband, Numata (Kinzô Shin) lasts for about three minutes. Shukichi patiently sits (but doesn't drink) as he allows Numata to ramble on. The entire scene is scored with diegetic music from a nearby apartment -- someone is practicing simple piano exercises.
• The scene ends without any kind of real confrontation, as Numata observes that it is snowing. "I wasn't expecting that." Shukichi turns and watches the falling snow, which we will continue to see from windows in future scenes. It is cold!
• 0:42:40: The great Kamatari Fujiwara makes another cameo.
• 0:50:40: At the Bar Etoile, Ozu gives over 20 whole seconds to a shot of a very severe looking gentleman (older, a bit out of place; most of the customers are young people) taking a sip of coffee.
• 0:52:29: Seiji Miyaguchi with a nice cameo as a policeman who arrests poor Akiko.
• 1:12:00: Setsuko Hara is actually scary in this scene where she reads her mother the riot act.
• 1:15:00: As usual, Ozu and Noda have fashioned the screenplay with such care to detail and timing ~ the estranged mother (Isuzu Yamada, great in Yojimbo as the Gang Mother) has just been told off by her daughter, Takako, when her lover/husband (Nobuo Nakamura) returns to the mahjong parlor. He has a job offer in far away Muroran (Hokkaido) and asks her to join him. She refuses.
• 1:16:50: Uncredited, but unforgettable, is Toyo Takahashi's turn as the old nurse at the abortion clinic. We will come to know her better in a few years, in Good Morning (1959).
• 1:21:09: Over-the-top melodrama? Perhaps, but when Akiko comes home after the abortion and comes face to face with Takako's adorable little girl, walking right towards us with her rattle. her breakdown is understandable and obvious.
• 1:26:00: In a lovely example of really rounding out a character, Ozu and Noda show us a tiny detail from the life of Shukichi. He is at work and needs to speak with the bank president, who is in a long meeting. He tells his secretary, "I'll be at my usual place. Let me know when they finish."
  • We follow the secretary to another room where she gossips with another girl: "Mr. Sugiyama sure loves those pachinko machines."
  • "He always tries to get the top score. It's just like him."
  • "It is. He's the only auditor who reads all the daily reports."
• In the next cut, Shukichi is playing pachinko.
  • Just three films ago (#45), Ryu was playing the owner of the pachinko parlor.
• 1:40:26: Somewhat unusually for Ozu, he references a contemporary event: the 1956 Anti-Prostitution Law.
• 2:05:44: In a bleak film filled with more horror than we normally associate with an Ozu picture, this scene provides a nice cooling contrast to the red-hot emotions of the Sugiyama family. At least the mother and her devoted lover ("... if we go together, it will be warm enough") will go to Haikkaido together.
• 2:08:55: When a young Japanese girl bursts out in tears in an Ozu film, I usually find myself a bit at sea ... I get the water-breaking-the-dam thing -- these girls are always holding back their true feelings in a way that most Westerners find frustrating. I have trouble reaching the true emotional state of some of these characters when the cauldron of conflicting feelings creates such ambiguity to begin with ...
• But here -- here, Setsuko Hara shows why she's just so damn good. No matter how many times I see this film, I always get a little jolt here as she lets it all out. Extraordinary!
• 2:11:00: She's craning her neck, looking out the window of the train, trying to spot Takako's face. I dare say in the hands of almost any other director, we would see Setsuko Hara at the very last moment. Ozu permits no such fantasy.
• As satisfying as the wrap-up of the mahjong parlor couple's arc is, Takako's decision to return to her husband feels perfectly right.
• 2:17:25: In this scene -- Ryu whispering to his dead daughter -- one feels like an eavesdropper of an extremely personal moment. Ozu films it that way.

The final scene -- prefaced by two long lazy pillow shots (trees/rooftops and hallway) -- show us how things are for Sugiyama. He has a maid to help him shuffle off to work in the morning and as Ryu exits the house and walks down the inclined street, we see the last black and white images that the great Yasujiro put to celluloid.

From here to the end -- in six of the most beautiful films you will ever see -- the rainbow bursts and vibrant reds, yellows, blues and oranges will fill the Ozu frame like no one before or since. Here, Ozu's circle of life will play out on a fresh cinematic tableau. He'll use color as just one more element in his tookbox, which he'll take out once a year to carefully plan, design, manufacture and sell these two-hour romps through intergenerational family life.