Good Morning (1959)

Two boys begin a silence strike to press their parents into buying them a television set.

Director:

Yasujirô Ozu

Writers:

Kôgo Noda, Yasujirô Ozu

Stars:

Keiji Sada, Yoshiko Kuga, Chishû Ryû

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Keiji Sada	...	Heiichirô Fukui
Yoshiko Kuga	...	Setsuko Arita
Chishû Ryû	...	Keitarô Hayashi
Kuniko Miyake	...	Tamiko Hayashi
Haruko Sugimura	...	Kikue Haraguchi
Kôji Shitara	...	Minoru Hayashi
Masahiko Shimazu	...	Isamu Hayashi
Kyôko Izumi	...	Midori Maruyama
Toyo Takahashi	...	Shige Ôkubo
Sadako Sawamura	...	Kayoko Fukui
Eijirô Tôno	...	Tomizawa
Teruko Nagaoka	...	Toyoko Tomizawa
Eiko Miyoshi	...	Mitsue Haraguchi
Haruo Tanaka	...	Haraguchi
Akira Ôizumi	...	Akira Maruyama

Storyline

This movie takes a look at a Westernized suburban area in Japan in the late '50s. It focuses mainly on the daily lives of a small community and the way its members interact. It also demonstrates the power of oral communication and the way in which small talk acts as a lubricant for our daily lives.

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Plot Keywords:

flatulence | kameido station | schoolteacher | hotel chinzanso | soup | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Family

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese English

Release Date:

February 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

Yasujiro Ozu's Good Morning

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shochiku

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Yasujirô Ozu: [movie posters] Ozu pays tribute to his cinematic influences by putting all kinds of film posters all over the wall in his films. In this movie, there are two posters, one of The Defiant Ones (1958) (at 08:30) and one of The Lovers (1958) (at 08:07), both at the neighbors' house.

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Quotes

Isamu: I love you.

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Alternate Versions

The original American theatrical release prints were in black and white.

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Connections

Remake of I Was Born, But... (1932)

User Reviews

Ozu's most accessible film

"Good Morning," is one of my favorite's films.

It means a lot to me personally, because -like all of Ozu's work- it demonstrates a brilliant understanding of the complexities of being human. It contains simple wisdom, humour, and kindness; and sadly the whole of cinema history has provided us with very few films which can make such a claim. Ozu celebrates the beauty of middle-class existence, all the while delivering a profound criticism of our tendency to permit "small talk" to dominate conversations. Ultimately though, it is the humour which makes "Good Morning" my favorite's Ozu picture, for it is a very funny movie. Very funny and very satisfying! I can hardly imagine an open-minded person not enjoying it.

Because many North American viewers have a reluctance to watch films more than a few years old, or in languages other than English, Ozu's exposure here is still extremely limited. That is unfortunate because Ozu's films are quite universal.

I feel confident that anyone could appreciate Ozu's genius in this film.