• It’s a blending of Ozu’s brilliant style and a bit of post WWII neo-realism—truly works
  • Ryu and Sakamoto in support here but Chôko Iida is superb in the lead performance—full arc, gruff and indifferent at first and then true empathy, love and grace at the end
  • Love the opening of an alley—trademark Ozu and then a quick cut to his tea kettle framing
  • All in all there are lots of kitchen products hanging from the ceiling in the mise-en-scene—with the war it’s doubtful he’d have seen the magnificent ambersons but that’s another film (also from a master) that did that same thing so well
  • Goes to the laundry pillow shot at least four times
  • There’s a very inspired and focused work on using obstructions in the foreground of the frame
  • The abandoned kid- Hoi Aoki playing Kohei is just so damn sweet
  • Long slow stretches of pure plot, even in a short 72 minute film, hurt overall—it’s a pretty slight and light simple story
  • I see similarities with De Sica’s Umberto D
  • There’s a great sequence of Iida looking for the boy—strategically played trash on the street than a lamp post cutaway
  • You can see the film setting you up with sadness and she falls in love with the boy and has pictures taking with him, asks if he wants to be her son… very tragic
  • HR border