Good Morning ( お早よう ) Thu, Sep 7 | 7:30pm | TMT
LIMITED SERIES YASUJIRŌ OZU IN COLOR: THE FINAL SIX FILMS SEP 1–14, 2023
A remake of Yasujirō Ozu’s silent comedy, I Was Born, But… (1932), Good Morning is a lighthearted tale of the suburban, school-aged Hayashi brothers who simply must have a television set. When their mother refuses, they take a vow of silence that leads to worse repercussions when the neighbors assume she’s seeking vengeance for an earlier misunderstanding. As fanciful as the rich color photography, shot by late-career Ozu regular collaborator Yuharu Atsuta, are the film’s playful games of telephone sprinkled throughout this sprightly satire of consumer culture and generational divide in postwar Japan. DIRECTED BY: Yasujirō Ozu. WRITTEN BY: Yasujirō Ozu, Kōgo Noda. WITH: Masahiko Shimazu, Koji Shitara, Kuniko Miyake, Yoshiko Kuga. 1959. 93 min. Japan. Color. Japanese. 35mm.
Late Autumn ( 秋日和 ) Sat, Sep 9 | 7:30pm | TMT
The influential Japanese filmmaker and screenwriter Yasujirō Ozu ( 小津 安二郎 ) was born in Tokyo, on December 12, 1903. Before his death exactly 60 years later, on December 12, 1963, Ozu would make 54 feature-length films, several of which, including his much- heralded masterpiece Tokyo Story (1953), are uttered in the same breath as history’s most beloved movies. The bulk of Ozu’s work is situated within the shomin-geki (“common people drama”) tradition, mirroring real-world tensions within multi-generational families in postwar Japan. With his iconic low-angle framing, Ozu seats his viewers next to his protagonists on the tatami mat, inviting us into intimate domestic settings to both embrace and scrutinize the complicated dynamics of mid-century Japanese life. This September, the museum will screen Ozu’s six films shot in vibrant color to celebrate the 120th anniversary of his birth. Another way to honor his legacy is at the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library, where an exhibition of rare behind-the-scenes photographs, publicity stills, and never-before-seen snapshots from Ozu’s life and work is on display through December 2023.
THE END OF SUMMER ( 小早川家の秋 ) The End of Summer ( 小早川家の秋 ) with An Autumn Afternoon ( 秋刀魚の味 ) Thu, Sep 14 | 7:30pm | TMT The End of Summer ( 小早川家の秋 )
FLOATING WEEDS ( 浮草 ) Floating Weeds ( 浮草 ) Fri, Sep 8 | 7:30pm | TMT Shot by regular Kenji Mizoguchi and Akira Kurosawa lenser Kazuo Miyagawa ( Rashōmon , Ugetsu ), this remake of Yasujirō Ozu’s earlier A Story of Floating Weeds (1934) is faithful to the original, save for location which he updates to the Seto Inland Sea. When the aging lead actor of a traveling theater troupe docks in the seaside town of his former mistress and their now-teenaged child, his current lover, caught completely off guard, plots her revenge. In the film’s title lies a metaphor for the leisurely, at times lonely, pace of life, a recurring image in Japanese poetry that signals Ozu’s enchantment with the quotidian. DIRECTED BY: Yasujirō Ozu. WRITTEN BY: Yasujirō Ozu, Kōgo Noda. WITH: Ganjirō Nakamura, Machiko Kyō, Ayako Wakao, Hiroshi Kawaguchi. 1959. 119 min. Japan. Color. Japanese. DCP. Late Autumn ( 秋日和 ) Sat, Sep 9 | 7:30pm | TMT “To me,” Yasujirō Ozu once said, “each thing I produce is a new expression… like a painter who always paints the same rose”—an apt statement from a director who consistently remade his earlier films to infuse updated sentiments into their timeless stories. To that end, Late Autumn is a reimagining of Late Spring (1949), the film that kicked off his creative burst in the 1950s, and was lensed by the same cinematographer who captured his stunning Equinox Flower (1958), Yuharu Atsuta. Selected as Japan’s entry for the 33rd Academy Awards, Late Autumn chronicles modern courtship with Ozu’s signature compassion. DIRECTED BY: Yasujirō Ozu. WRITTEN BY: Yasujirō Ozu, Kōgo Noda. WITH: Setsuko Hara, Yoko Tsukasa, Mariko Okada, Keiji Sada. 1960. 128 min. Japan. Color. Japanese. 35mm.
Yasujirō Ozu’s sole film for Toho, the Japanese studio responsible for the Godzilla film series, was also his penultimate, and for the studio’s stable of performers, including comedic actor Hisaya Morishige and kaiju genre regular Akira Takarada, their one chance to work with the legendary filmmaker. A delicate blend of tragedy and comedy as experienced by a family unit unsettled by a foolish father’s romantic whims, The End of Summer is also a grounded reflection on grief. The film marks beloved actor Setsuko Hara’s (1920–2015) sixth and final movie with Ozu; she would retire shortly after the film’s completion with credits in nearly 100 titles. DIRECTED BY: Yasujirō Ozu. WRITTEN BY: Yasujirō Ozu, Kōgo Noda. WITH: Ganjirō Nakamura, Setsuko Hara, Yoko Tsukasa, Michiyo Aratama. 1961. 103 min. Japan. Color. Japanese. 35mm. Print courtesy of The Japan Foundation. An Autumn Afternoon ( 秋刀魚の味 ) Legendary actor Chishū Ryū (1904–1993) appeared in 52 of Yasujirō Ozu’s 54 films over their decades-long collaboration. For Ozu’s final film, Ryū plays the widowed father of three adult children who feels obligated to arrange his youngest daughter’s marriage. The film’s Japanese title, The Taste of Sanma , evokes the fish typically consumed as fall transitions into winter. Seasonal change was a matter of fact for Ozu, and his late-career output turns that fact into a kind of poetry: the film’s final words, spoken by Ryū, are one of the most lyrical endings to any film, and an unparalleled career, as one could possibly imagine. DIRECTED BY: Yasujirō Ozu. WRITTEN BY: Yasujirō Ozu, Kōgo Noda. WITH: Chishū Ryū, Shima Iwashita, Keiji Sada, Mariko Okada. 1962. 113 min. Japan. Color. Japanese. 35mm.
Programmed and notes by K.J. Relth-Miller.
his dismay, that his daughter (Ineko Arima) will marry a man he’s never met. Though the flower of the title, the higanbana , implies a bad omen, Ozu’s cheerful balance between depicting a father’s frustration and honoring the dignity of the younger generation foregrounds the filmmaker’s understanding of youth, a progressive theme that carries through his final six films. DIRECTED BY: Yasujirō Ozu. WRITTEN BY: Yasujirō Ozu, Kōgo Noda. WITH: Shin Saburi, Ineko Arima, Kinuyo Tanaka, Teiji Takahashi. 1958. 118 min. Japan. Color. Japanese. 35mm.
EQUINOX FLOWER ( 彼岸花 ) Equinox Flower ( 彼岸花 ) Fri, Sep 1 | 7:30pm | TMT
Yasujirō Ozu’s first color film builds on the powerful themes from his unparalleled masterpiece Tokyo Story (1953) to conjure deep empathy for youth in postwar Japan. Based on the novel by Japanese author Ton Satomi, the film follows a rich businessman (Shin Saburi) as he learns, to
GOOD MORNING ( お早よう )
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