Category: Non-English Film

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.

There’s always a bit about Ozu’s family dramas where I feel like I might be losing some of the tension due to the cultural and time divides. The mother who abandoned her family years ago returns to town which causes conflict for her daughters. Set during winter time and touching on some of the less savory aspects of society, it’s darker than many of Ozu’s works. Including deaths, family separations, and abortion amongst its plot lines, there are very few light spots to brighten the narrative. Particularly in the case of the youngest daughter, the story somewhat veers into tragedy porn.

Wikipedia mentions that Werner Herzog wanted Klaus Kinski for the role of the title character after remembering his ‘terrifying and deranged antics’ during the three months he roomed with Herzog’s family. That statement truly sets up the expectations for this film about a crazed conquistador who stages a coup to lead a doomed mission searching for the treasures of El Dorado. There’s not much to say beyond that. The film is never boring and ever other character is overshadowed by Kinski’s madman.

Perhaps because of it’s longer runtime, this film about a married salaryman who has a short affair with a co-worker is thus far my least favorite of Ozu’s works. Aside from the stereotype seen in American media, I wasn’t really aware of the concept of salarymen and the lives they lead. I think here Ozu was attempting too much by portraying the strains of a salaryman’s life while still examining the strains in a marriage. No doubt the pressures of work have effects on the home life, but this felt like an unbalanced exploration of the two in conjunction with a lot of focus on the man’s work life. I did find it interesting that this film, like Late Autumn, featured a scene where a group of men tell a woman how she should act in her own love affairs.