• Visually, it’s the only film from Ozu on par with Tokyo Story
  • It’s another major accomplishment for Ozu’s muse Hara— for Ryu he doesn’t show up until the closing scene with the river fishing, crows, and crematorium. A gorgeous sequence—Ryu adds weight to it
  • The trademark light brown cloth opening credits- he’s always had them but only color (5 films in color including this one) do you see they’re brown
  • Love the night time neon light skyline establishing shot
  • A narrative meditation on marriage and remarriage—obligation to family and self-interest at odds—the young girl (getting mentored by Hara—always the most genuine character on screen) deciding between two suiters— the old man and patriarch (who is a widow) setting happiness with his former mistress—there’s hypocrisy in members of the family- they are pushing hara to marriage (she’s a widow) but keeping the old patriarch from it—it’s an all-encompassing story of one family
  • A stunning art-on-wall shot of a row of barrels
  • The multi-colored drinking glasses, orange pop, we even have that dresser again with the drawers all a loud different color
  • In the opening bar scene there is the pink dress on the waitress, the row of purple furniture, and the flashing neon light changing in the exterior- a striking mise-en-scene set up
  • Very brown heavy in the color scheme interiors- bamboo- exquisite to look at
  • A great stain glass window setting
  • So when patriarch- Ganjirô Nakamura has a heart attack—they go from the daughter on the phone (to ambulance) to a montage of empty rooms (one including a beautiful grandfather clock)- it’s a 5 shot montage from phone call to the stunner of a staging shot with the family all around his sick body—it’s a major highlight and then not long after we go to the blue lantern with natural light in the background- sublime
  • Towards the end with Ozu goes to the headstones as a pillow shots more and more—a highlight is the row of headstones in the foreground, then an elevated hill, and two women (one Hara) in parallel and dressed alike in the background essentially like they’re standing on the headstones. It’s another jaw-dropper
  • The film doesn’t have 10-15 gorgeous shots in 2 hours like some of his work (minor by comparison but stronger than almost anything else)- this is like Tokyo Story– it’s absolutely loaded with some of the best mise-en-scene work in cinema history—it’s a visual onslaught and if I could find them (and had room for them) there would be 50 pictures here on this page
  • The chimney cremation sequence at the end is equally breathtaking—revelatory that hits you like a punch in the face—cycle of life, the shot of the row of mourners, the Ryu as a fisherman sequence—poignant, crows on headstones
  • Masterpiece