Sanma no aji (1962)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Yasujiro Ozu

Writers:

Kôgo Noda (screenplay) &
Yasujiro Ozu (screenplay)

Release Date:

1964 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

An aging widower arranges a marriage for his only daughter.

Plot Keywords:

Widower | 1960s | Father Daughter Relationship | Japan | Family Relationships

Awards:

4 wins

Cast

Chishu Ryu	...	Shuhei Hirayama
Shima Iwashita	...	Michiko Hirayama
Keiji Sada	...	Koichi
Mariko Okada	...	Akiko
Teruo Yoshida	...	Yutaka Miura
Noriko Maki	...	Fusako Taguchi
Shinichirô Mikami	...	Kazuo
Nobuo Nakamura	...	Shuzo Kawai
Eijirô Tôno	...	Sakuma, The 'Gourd'
Kuniko Miyake	...	Nobuko
Kyôko Kishida	...	'Kaoru' no Madame
Michiyo Kan	...	Tamako, gosai
Ryuji Kita	...	Shin Horie
Toyo Takahashi	...	'Wakamatsu' no Okami
Shinobu Asaji	...	Youko Sasaki, hisho

Also Known As:

An Autumn Afternoon (USA)
The Taste of Saury (Japan) (informal literal English title)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:PG (2007) | Finland:S | Spain:T

Filming Locations:

Shochiku-Ofuna, Ofuna, Kanagawa, Japan

Company:

Shochiku Company

Trivia:

The last film directed by Yasujiro Ozu.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ikite wa mita keredo - Ozu Yasujirô den (1983)

A Great Introduction To Ozu

This was one of the first Ozu films I saw, and is one of my favorites. Ozu's themes - a family adjusts uneasily to the rapidly shifting traditions of life in middle-class, postwar Japan - are handled with great subtlety, and many dark ironies are to be found beneath the fragile quietude at this film's surface. This isn't just applicable to Japan, and this realization gives this film a sad sting that stuck with me long after the movie was over. Ozu's famous 'look' - no closeups, no crane shots, a still camera fixed at 3 1/2 feet off the floor or ground also gives this film an unforgettable grace and beauty. DVD please???