An Autumn Afternoon (1962)
"Sanma no aji" (original title)

An aging widower arranges a marriage for his only daughter.

Director:

Yasujirô Ozu

Writers:

Kôgo Noda (screenplay), Yasujirô Ozu (screenplay)

Stars:

Chishû Ryû, Shima Iwashita, Keiji Sada

4 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chishû Ryû	...	Shuhei Hirayama
Shima Iwashita	...	Michiko Hirayama
Keiji Sada	...	Koichi
Mariko Okada	...	Akiko
Teruo Yoshida	...	Yutaka Miura
Noriko Maki	...	Fusako Taguchi
Shin'ichirô Mikami	...	Kazuo
Nobuo Nakamura	...	Shuzo Kawai
Eijirô Tôno	...	Sakuma, The 'Gourd'
Kuniko Miyake	...	Nobuko
Kyôko Kishida	...	'Kaoru' no Madame
Michiyo Tamaki	...	Tamako, gosai
Ryûji Kita	...	Shin Horie
Toyo Takahashi	...	'Wakamatsu' no Okami
Shinobu Asaji	...	Youko Sasaki, hisho

Storyline

In the early 60's in Tokyo, the widower Hirayama is a former captain from the Japanese navy that works as a manager of a factory and lives with his twenty-four year-old daughter Michiko and his son Kazuo in his house. His older son Koichi is married with Akiko that are compulsive consumers and Akiko financially controls their expenses. Hirayama frequently meets his old friends Kawai and Professor Horie, who is married with a younger wife, to drink in a bar. When their school teacher Sakuma comes to a reunion of Hirayama with old school mates, they learn that the old man lives with his daughter that stayed single to take care of him. Michiko lives a happy life with her father and her brother, but Hirayama feels that it is time to let her go and tries to arrange a marriage for her.

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Plot Keywords:

widower | father daughter relationship | japanese | tokyo japan | 1960s | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

An Autumn Afternoon

Filming Locations:

Shochiku-Ofuna, Ofuna, Kanagawa, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shochiku Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The last film directed by Yasujirô Ozu.

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Connections

Referenced in The Life and Works of Yasujiro Ozu (1983)

User Reviews

What a swan song!

I have seen many visually beautiful and emotionally moving films, but not as many recently. An Autumn Afternoon is one of those primary examples. Meditative in its pacing it is, but it is never dull. How everything is made and written really makes an interesting and very rewarding experience indeed. It is incredibly well made to start off with, the camera is kept at low angles and is still, but for me this allowed me to explore and really admire the scenery and the framing which are very elegantly done. Kojan Siato's score is one of those soothing and unobtrusive scores that helps the audience to connect with An Autumn Afternoon's gentle mood. How An Autum Afternoon is written is also exceptional, as well as the gentle tone, the story has this great warmth, wisdom and humanity. As well as Ozu's meticulous as ever direction what is also great about An Autumn Afternoon is the lead performance, Chishu Ryu's performance is dignified and altogether very touching. In conclusion, not just one of the cinema's greatest swan-song but a masterpiece of a film also. 10/10 Bethany Cox