• Ozu’s darkest film since at least A Hen in the Wind in 1948
  • His last B/W film and the lighting even looks darker here to match the devastating sadness and dour atmosphere in the film- it’s cold, winter, snow—can’t remember any other Ozu film like that— matches his films that have titles like Early Spring, Late Spring, early summer – we even have many characters with surgical masks (I’m guessing from the possible nuclear fallout but no idea really)—first time in ozu’s oeuvre for that
  • Consistent camera 3 feet off the ground
  • Hara and Ryu are both here- and both great- Hara retired in1963 when Ozu died
  • Ineko Arima—my first time seeing her in an Ozu film—she’s gorgeous- does a good job here as a tragic character
  • The setup, with the abonnement, tragedy, abortion- is very melodramatic—again most since A Hen in the Wind
  • Love the establishing skyline opening—train shot—then a cluttered mise-en-scene alley with a motorcycle.
  • Hara is such a great actress- there’s a line from her father—Ryu where he says “I should’ve let you marry Soto” (she’s in a bad marriage with someone else and she clearly loved this unseen Soto character) and it crushes her- but she smiles—it’s fabulous acting
  • Very very heavy signage- I love this shot below- stunning mise-en-scene
  • Family has heavy issues
  • Tea kittle in foreground, chairs, lamps
  • When Arima’s character collapses in the street it’s unseen- and then we have a long pillow shot to a sign—it’s a great moment
  • Death bed cutaway to the grandfather clock is perfection as well
  • Very grim film- and Ozu doesn’t give you much to cling to for optimism—there’s no lose mother/daughter connection and the train farewell is a reunion that never happens
  • Great shot near the end of Hara on the ground framed by two sets of doors
  • Just on the fringe of the top 10 of 1957
  • R/HR