Late Autumn

When the patriarch of a family dies, one of his friends decides to find a husband for his daughter, and in the middle, also for the recent widow. A beautiful work by Yasujiro Ozu, on the tradition of Japanese arranged weddings, with a touch of satire and comedy. We see many familiar faces in the cast, from previous films by Ozu, and we can even pretend that they are part of the same cinematographic universe, and thus create a thread with the narratives.

Akibiyori / Late Autumn (1960) : Brief Review -

An update to Japanese Classic 'Banshun' / 'Late Spring' with a gender change but with the same Classy Impact. Recently, i saw Banshun (1949) and was moved by the film. I never thought that a non-narrative classic of Ozu can ever get inspired version or should I say updated version because the ultimate factism of Banshun was something kind of unavoidable and irreplaceable. I don't hate to say it that i have been proved wrong by the Master Director as he reconstructed the similar story with Akibiyori with the change in Protagonist's gender and yet delivered a Classic film. Actually, this one is more explored version and has wider vision than Banshun and that's obvious because it was made after a decade so the filmmaking went ahead as expected. A widow tries to marry off her daughter with the help of her late husband's three friends. The similar story what we saw in Banshun with the Mother replacing the Father, and those three friends being a great addition. Unlike Banshun, this is far more entertaining with comic touch and quirky humour. It has funny moments created from daily life activities and issues which surely brings laughter when needed. The light tone momentum makes it engaging film and also provides a repeat value. I doubt if can watch Banahun on repeat mode again and again but it's a big YES for Akibiyori. Apart from that it is greatly filled with rich emotions and ethical sentiments that will stir your feelings. That emotional touch in the last 30 minutes is terrifically crafted from all angles. All the actors have done a great job. Ozu never fails to bring the best out of his cast and Akibiyori is yet another undeniable example of it. A grand salute to the legendary filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu for making such heartwarming films on definite family issue like 'Marriage' which has never been told in such classy manners ever by any Director in the cinema world.

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest

Apparently this is a semi-remake of one of Ozu's own films, which I haven't seen (Late Spring). It's also a little familiar to the most recent Ozu film I watched, 1962's An Autumn Afternoon. Besides having titles that share a word, each involves parents looking for partners for their daughter to marry. In An Autumn Afternoon, it's a father looking for someone for his daughter to marry, and in Late Autumn, it's a mother looking for someone to marry her daughter (with the help of three very entertaining male side characters, who sort of kick off the main plot without being the film's lead characters).

Yasujiro Ozu's films are slow and touching, but never dry or overly sentimental. Personally, I have to be in the right mood to get attached to them, but thankfully, tonight was the right mood. I found this very engaging throughout, and thought the characters were endearing, the visuals were very pleasant to look at, and the mix of drama and humour was pitch-perfect.

There is still the slow pacing that I was aware of here and there, but not too often, all things considered. Part of me felt like 130 minutes was a little long, but another part of me enjoyed spending over two hours with these characters and their important (but not too high stakes) life decisions. I even had to remind myself they were fictional, after I thought to myself right after the movie ended that I hoped a character would be okay in their life going forward... before pinching myself and realising that they're fictional, and there technically is no more life for them to live once the screen fades to black. I think that's the sign of good writing and acting right there.

Of Ozu's trilogy on marriage Japanese style this one is my favorite. In fact many of my comments apply to the other two, Late Spring (1949) and Early Summer (1951). All three deal with the concept of marriage as seen in traditional Japanese society and even though to my western eyes it seems antiquated, Ozu manages to present it as a sensible, inherently logical way to pair two people. But what ultimately attracts me to his work is his presentation. The plot unfolds in a slow, languorous way. It's linear but with gaps in time which are fully explained so that we are not left guessing as to intervening events. What we see and hear is the important stuff. We, in essence, are eavesdropping on intimate family conversations, the kind of things discussed at every dinner table, things important to a family but more or less irrelevant to the outside world. Somehow Ozu makes that interesting. Naturally the actors play an important part and the presence of two of my favorite Japanese actors, Setsuko Hara and Chisu Ryu, in all three are a definite plus. So why is this one my favorite? Humor and lots of it. The first two are rather serious, drama-filled works where the characters exhibit much angst. Late Autumn on the other hand is light and airy, there's a bounce to it, and it's filled with a lot of sexual innuendo that is completely absent from the others. It's as if Ozu was saying to us that the post-WWII years was a time for Japan to buckle down to the serious work of rebuilding society. By 1960 the joy of living had returned to his country. It could afford the bumbling of three well-meaning and occasionally lecherous men whose efforts at match-making were only half successful.

In many ways a retread of his earlier masterpiece Late Spring, which dealt with the relationship between a widowed father and his marry-able daughter, Ozu returned to familiar territory as he often did late in his career for a look at the flip-side. Here, the mother is widowed and desires to see her daughter married and happy. Three friends determine to intervene, leaving a trail of misunderstandings and hurt feelings in their attempt to appease all involved.

While this is certainly a familiar story for Ozu to tell, he somehow manages to inject new life into it every time out. Through a beautiful color palette and his famous visual style, Ozu explores a world of postwar Japan that finally appears to be picking itself up fifteen years after World War II. Western dress and behavior continues to seep into Japanese culture and Ozu seems to be picking up on the rapid evolution of change within his country throughout these late career works. His lack of interest in plot and storytelling leaves the viewer more time to focus on the atmosphere, the context in which the story is set. The result is a very pensive and serene feeling as one realizes that no matter what time or place, humans will always desire certain things. Companionship, love and happiness will never go out of style, even for widowed women.