There Was a Father (1942)

Shuhei Horikawa, a poor schoolteacher, struggles to raise his son Ryohei by himself, despite neither money nor prospects.

Director:

Yasujirô Ozu

Writers:

Tadao Ikeda, Yasujirô Ozu

Stars:

Chishû Ryû, Shûji Sano, Shin Saburi

Cast

Credited cast:
Chishû Ryû	...	Shuhei Horikawa
Shûji Sano	...	Ryohei Horikawa
Shin Saburi	...	Yasutaro Kurokawa
Takeshi Sakamoto	...	Makoto Hirata
Mitsuko Mito	...	Fumiko Hirata
Masayoshi Ôtsuka	...	Seiichi Hirata
Shin'ichi Himori	...	Minoru Uchida
Haruhiko Tsuda	...	Ryohei as a child
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shôtarô Fujimatsu
Chiyoko Fumiya
Masao Hayama
Kanji Kawahara	...	Teacher of junior high school
Teruo Kisaragi
Shôichi Kofujita	...	(as Shôichi Kotôda)
Masami Kubota

Storyline

A father and his son, a son and his father. Horikawa is a widower, a teacher, and a good father to Ryohei, who's about 10. After a tragedy, Horikawa resigns from teaching and takes Ryohei from Tokyo to the town of Ueno, enrolling him in junior high; to the lad's sorrow, he will be a boarder. Horikawa returns to work in Tokyo, their separation is complete. Jump ahead more than ten years: with dad's help, Ryohei has finished college and has a teaching job in Akita. Horikawa considers living with his son, which Ryohei wants, but the elder's notions of duty and hard work preclude it. Ryohei arranges a ten-day vacation with his father. Heartbreak comes quietly, nearly hidden by dignity.

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Plot Keywords:

teacher student relationship | crying | train | dignity | duty | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #526.

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Connections

Referenced in I Lived, But... (1983)

User Reviews

Father and Son

Being a fan of Ozu, you see here all the elements of his film making: The long shots, the trains, the interaction of family members etc. Kind of a precursor to the superior "Late Spring", this story revolves around a father and son's relationship. He works hard to get his son through school, so he can have a better life. However, they are not in the same place, so they do not see each other all that often. The film spans several years, in which the son goes from a young boy to a man. Chishu Ryu, who has starred in many Ozu films, is the father. Of course, he is great, he always is. Since the mother passed before the film even started, the boy only has the father, and their relationship is the heart of this film. A good to almost very good film, it was shown, appropriately enough, on Fathers Day on Turner Classic Movies. If you like Ozu, you'll want to see this. If you're new to him, check out the films with Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara, as well as his swan song "Autumn Afternoon" and even "I Was Born, But" before watching this. I liked it, it was a nice film. Its another worthy Ozu film, in a career that had so many of them.

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

November 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

There Was a Father

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shochiku

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1