The Final Stage of Ozu: ‘Tokyo Story’ & ‘Floating Weeds’
Only the best can evoke the cycle of life and all its intricacies and broadness through a concentrated story of a single family. Yasujirō Ozu is one of the best, and Tokyo Story (1953) is maybe the greatest example in cinema of such a story, one of a relatively small number I’d argue should be rewatched.
Two by Ozu: ‘The Only Son’ & ‘There Was a Father’
To pretend to truly comprehend life in post-WWI Japan as a 21st Century white guy would be shameful, but even with a little bit of preparatory research for nominal context, The Only Son (1936) is a miraculously compassionate and quietly devastating snapshot of an era and culture for the societal majority, themes which no other Japanese filmmaker — perhaps no other global filmmaker — cased better or more touchingly than Yasujirō Ozu. His work is always entrancing for its craftsmanship and precision and for its emotional gravity and tenderness, and The Only Son is a prime example.