The End of Summer (1961)

A little more modern feeling than some of the others, I liked this one more than my other recent Ozu viewings. Nakamura Ganjirō II is the head of a small sake brewery and the father of two daughters, one whose family lives with her father and another who lives with his widowed daughter-in-law. He also has an old mistress who has a Westernized daughter that might be his as well. The film follows the end of his life, the end of the company as it is, and again a push to marry off the unmarried women. I enjoyed the ebbs and flows of this particular Ozu and particularly loved the interactions between Setsuko Hara and Yōko Tsukasa as the two women who share a home and also a real sisterhood of support. The ending is also unexpected when compared to previous Ozu’s, perhaps a nod to the changes in Japanese society.