Series 3 - Late Ozu

[criterionmaster]

Master filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu directed fifty-three feature films over the course of his long career. Yet it was in the final decade of his life, his “old master” phase, that he entered his artistic prime. Centered more than ever on the modern sensibilities of the younger generation, these delicate family dramas are marked by an exquisite formal elegance and emotional sensitivity about birth and death, love and marriage, and all the accompanying joys and loneliness. Along with such better-known films as Floating Weeds and An Autumn Afternoon, these five works illustrate the worldly wisdom of one of cinema’s great artists at the height of his powers.

Early Spring

In his first film after the commercial and critical success of Tokyo Story, Ozu examines life in postwar Japan through the eyes of a young salaryman, dissatisfied with career and marriage, who begins an affair with a flirtatious co-worker.

Tokyo Twilight

One of Ozu’s most piercing portraits of family strife, Tokyo Twilight follows the parallel paths of two sisters contending with an absent mother, unwanted pregnancy, and marital discord.

Equinox Flower

Later in his career, Ozu started becoming increasingly sympathetic with the younger generation, a shift that was cemented in Equinox Flower, his gorgeously detailed first color film, about an old-fashioned father and his newfangled daughter.

Late Autumn

The great actress and Ozu regular Setsuko Hara plays a mother gently trying to persuade her daughter to marry in this glowing portrait of family love and conflict—a reworking of Ozu’s 1949 masterpiece Late Spring.

The End of Summer

The Kohayakawa family is thrown into distress when childlike father Manbei takes up with his old mistress, in one of Ozu’s most deftly modulated blendings of comedy and tragedy.

[captainofbeef]

I will have to see early Ozu before I go to late Ozu.

[wkw]

This is an amazing set, the best eclipse release yet. I hope Criterion do eventually release Ozu's early films that still exist. Still, I suggest you watch the Noriko trilogy (Late Spring, Early Summer, Tokyo Story).

[misterbalco]

I sorta wetted myself when I read about this the first time. Eclipse will be shooting lazer beams through my wallet.

[criterionmaster]

www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews31/late_ozu.htm

It got a very nice review. This is the Eclipse release I most look forward to getting. I haven't seen any Ozu, but this looks like the perfect set. I agree, wkw, this is easily the best, and most exciting, one, even after the other two (newer) sets have been announced.

[wkw]

A fantastic package, all of the films in here are excellent. Ozu doesn't make bad films.

1. Tokyo Twilight - 9/10
2. End of Summer - 9/10
3. Equinox Flower - 8.5/10
4. Early Spring - 8.5/10
5. Late Autumn - 8.5/10

[eatawiiner]

I watched Tokyo Twilight over this last weekend and fucking loved it. Definitely essential Ozu imo. I love how at the end of every Ozu i've seen i just wanna cry. Cant wait to check out Equinox Flower.

[wkw]

^Aye, I felt the same thing, truly heartwrenching stuff. The problem I had with it was that the Mother could have been better developed. Equinox Flower is like a complete 180 compared to Tokyo Twilight, Ozu handles agfa color expertly.