So Yamamura is the grieving observer of the failure of his children's marriages. His daughter has left her husband and brought home two children; and his son is cheating on Setsuko Hara with a mistress and a girl friend. He comes to realize that the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree.
Mikio Naruse is sometimes viewed as a backup to Ozu. It is true they had much the same career path, becoming directors in the late silent era, directing a wide variety of movies in the 1930s , but becoming known for women's movies in the 1950s. However, while Ozu's movies documented endurance, Naruse was more concerned with the tragedy of failure, its roots and effects. His camera work is less stylized -- or perhaps, to my eye, more western. In the face of a changing Japan, his characters do not apologize and endure; they weep and change.
What makes this movie particularly telling is that the characters at the heart of this tragedy -- the son and daughter-in-law -- are not the focus of this movie. It's Yamamura who is the movie's focus and he who learns he is the cause of the tragedy. In the end, we are offered hope for the children; they will live and perhaps be happy again; for Yamamura there is nothing but exile from life.
Mikio Naruse is sometimes viewed as a backup to Ozu. It is true they had much the same career path, becoming directors in the late silent era, directing a wide variety of movies in the 1930s , but becoming known for women's movies in the 1950s. However, while Ozu's movies documented endurance, Naruse was more concerned with the tragedy of failure, its roots and effects. His camera work is less stylized -- or perhaps, to my eye, more western. In the face of a changing Japan, his characters do not apologize and endure; they weep and change.
What makes this movie particularly telling is that the characters at the heart of this tragedy -- the son and daughter-in-law -- are not the focus of this movie. It's Yamamura who is the movie's focus and he who learns he is the cause of the tragedy. In the end, we are offered hope for the children; they will live and perhaps be happy again; for Yamamura there is nothing but exile from life.