Audience Member
Passable, but from the looks of other commentary, I will have to provide a dissenting vote. In this film, Director Yasujiro Ozu tells the story of a married man who loses his job trying to stand up for an older colleague whose been fired. On the positive side, he presents the frustrations of life, but at the same mixes in some levity. There is also a universality to the performance, while at the same time, it's true to Japanese culture, and something that would have broadened Westerners' views of Japan had the film been distributed in the United States (as it is, it wasn't shown in the U.S. until 1982).
For me, however, I found the film tedious in its delivery, and too long even at 90 minutes. The best scenes are in the office early on, and the rest feels padded and hasn't aged well. The cute elements are not all that funny and are held by Ozu far too long. The ultimate message of the film - persevering through difficulties, and the importance of sticking with one's friends and family - does not resonate as much as it should because of its mediocre storytelling. Decent, but you can do better.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/13/23
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s r
A simple, silent story about the struggles of unemployment in pre war Japan.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
A touching silent film. Loved it.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/24/23
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Audience Member
One of the very best silent films I've ever seen. Ozu was so far ahead of his time it's insane. For those of you think 'silent film' is hammy acting and prat falls and ragtime, watch this thing. It's modern as all fuck
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/19/23
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Audience Member
This is a tremendous film because it is one that totally defies categorization. It breezes between genres, touching notes of graceful comedy, painful tragedy and great human drama. Shinji Okajima embodies the main character, a man by the name of Tokihiko Okada. Director Yasujiro Ozu brilliantly starts the film off with a sequence from Okada's youth, where, attending some kind of military school, he establishes himself as the class clown as he stumbles, blunders and jokes his way through a uniform drill. He is a total goof, and while his antics are funny, we see them as totally childish. Ozu then cuts to a point in the future where Okada, who doesn't look very different at all, now supports a wife and three children. We're immediately thrust into the life of an ordinary human family, and as we follow Okada we realize that one never fully "becomes" an adult; one is given the job and spends the rest of his life learning. This is a short movie given the heaviness of the situation, and part of what I loved about it was that Ozu ends the film without much resolving the doubts introduced in the beginning of the film. The more of his films I see the more I realize that this is what Ozu is all about- observations rather than solutions. Yet, this film is covered in beautiful stylistic optimism. Ozu never gives up on these characters and, subsequently, neither did I.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/11/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Nice balance of comedy and drama.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/27/23
Full Review
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