Silent—Despite The Jazz Singer in 1927 and the advent of sound Ozu didn’t make his first sound film until 1936
This wasn’t seen in US until 1982
Ozu almost always starts his films (during this era) with a tracking shot—this one opens along a row of soldiers
Does it again later with a row of desks at work and then men in line getting their bonus at work- it’s skillfully done—he does it with the adults and then with the children—he’s making parallels again and again
Playful and broad comedy in the opening- soldiers goofing around and a guy dropping his bonus money in the urinal and then drying them off with a fan
It’s a moral story- a family story- these aren’t gangsters like Ozu’s much weaker 1930 Walk Cheerfully
It’s Ozu’s best and least sentimental film to date
There’ a great scene and silent conversation the husband and wife have with their eyes when she realizes they are so poor that he took her kimonos and used that money from selling them to pay the hospital bill
[…] Tokyo Chorus – Ozu […]