Ozu’s long career saw an evolution spanning silent film, sound, and a reluctant use of color. Paradoxically, his visual style became more and more essential with each passing work. An Autumn Afternoon is constructed almost overwhelmingly with his signature tatami shots; I imagine, had he gone on to make more films, they would’ve been made exclusively with tatami shots. His usual themes also reach a kind of pinnacle or resolution by arranging a marriage between tradition and modern. Although I doubt Ozu ever intended this to be his final film, it serves as an unintended capstone to one of cinema’s most original bodies of work. The only vital element missing here is Setsuko Hara. Casting her would’ve made this definitive.