Read, or should I say "watched," like 1920s Soviet agitprop. The anti-Western/anti-Capitalism force is strong in this one. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing . . . but it was just odd to have a Japanese film remind me so much of the USSR (a la Pudovkin's Mother . . . ). Besides that, it was worth a watch at least. Interesting to see how Ozu's style has changed somewhat, and in many ways stayed the same.
Beautifully paced, meditatingly simple and powerful, a brilliant transition to the sound era from Ozu.
The same formula that Ozu would use for the next 25 years is present in this, his first sound film: the low-angle static camera shots, the establishing shots, and especially, his focus on contemporary Japanese family life. Few filmgoers would realize the twenty year gap between this and "Early Spring" especially if they watch the new Criterion transfer. Contrast with Mizoguchi's "Osaka Elegy" released the same year.
Ozu's first talkie is this exceptionally moving story focusing on the self-sacrifice of a mother, prepared to sell her home to fund her son's move away to Tokyo in order to continue his education and to escape the poverty of their rural home town. Years later, she pays a visit and discovers him living in poverty and barely scraping a living for his wife and son. Choko Iida is brilliant as the disappointed mother.....
