Film Review on Ozu's Late Autumn (1960)

Imagine being eighteen years young, your father has passed away, and after his seventh memorial service the main concern is when you shall remarry. This is the premise of Ozu Yasujiro’s Late Autumn, one of his final films before leaving the business. Though the film was released in 1960, it contains a lot of traditional Japanese values such as arranged marriages. The beauty of this film is that since it is more modern than most of Ozu’s work, there was more leniencies with marriage and how one goes about being married off.

The beginning of the film starts with three of Miwa’s friends, the deceased father of an eighteen year daughter and late husband to a forty-something year old woman, discussing their old pal and college mate. It is clear that the men were very close at one point. The service starts and one of the friends enters late which they later joke about, seeing as he’s apparently always late. The widow and daughter are present but no one seems to be gloomy since Miwa had passed away some time ago. After the service, the three friends, widow, and daughter all join each other for a meal.

Their first order of business to discuss is when Ayako, the daughter, shall get married. She is only eighteen which is where I first realized just how different Japanese culture in comparison to America really is. One of the friends Taguchi tells Ayako and her mother Akiko that he has the perfect man in mind for her to marry. After the dinner he goes home and converses with his wife over the man’s name, seeing as he could not remember at the dinner. Once his name is established, Taguchi’s wife informs him that the man is already engaged. This rules out Taguchi’s contestant.

The three friends meet with each other at a bar quite frequently. Here they talk about their next plan of action to marry off Ayako to a fitting suitor. It is unclear why they feel such a strong need to help her get married, but one can infer that it’s simply because this is the last thing they can do to honor Miwa after his death. Mamiya realizes that he might know a man compatible for Ayako, so he talks to Akiko and asks her to mention it to Ayako. When doing so, Ayako admits to her mother that she does not want to marry just yet. She repeatedly says throughout the film “I’m fine just as I am” and “I’m just not ready to marry.”

Ayako’s desire to not marry just yet stems from the fact that her widowed mother would be alone. As the plot thickens and the third friend Hirayama wants to propose marriage to Akiko, things get a little chaotic. Mamiya tells Ayako about the proposal before it even happens which causes her to tell her mother that she hates her and is disgusted that she’d consider remarrying. Akiko had no recollection of this because she was never informed that she had a proposal. Ayako then storms out of their apartment under the impression that her mother was pretending to not know about Hirayama wanting to marry her.

Because she was infuriated, she pays her friend and colleague Yuriko a visit to vent about her mother’s pending proposal. It is then that Yuriko tells Ayako she is being selfish and should allow her mother to be happy seeing as she’s being deceitful by dating the man Mamiya’s suitor after rejecting his marriage proposal. The film concludes with Ayako marrying the man she had declined and Akiko being prepared to free her life as a widow. The two agree to visit each other though they will no longer live together.

I chose this film simply because the concept of arranged marriages fascinates me. We live in a country and century where one is able to marry whomever they please, so I have always found it to be quite interesting when present in books or films. The focus of this film is upon a mother and her daughter, one of the strongest bonds ever known. They are seen together and alone in their apartment multiple times which added to the overall connection. From the very beginning of the film it was evident that the two were close. They sat with the three friends and left together by choice.

Ozu is known to have to legitimate theory behind his films which is another reason why this film intrigued me. He displays traditional Japanese values in their rawest form. Though the film itself seemed long, Late Autumn did not drag itself out. You are captivated due to the fact that, for non-Japanese people, it is a culture shock. The mother and daughter connection is a universal concept however things we would consider normal family routines such as hugging do not happen.

Aside from the family aspects of the traditional Japanese lifestyle, it is also clear that the men have power of the woman. In one scene Taguchi drops his coat and briefcase on the floor while his wife picks it up. This is something that you do not see quite frequently in modern Western culture yet male dominance is still praised in Japanese culture. What I admire about this film, however, is that it stresses the fact that times have changed in Japan. Though Ayako is receiving marriage proposals, she was able to decline those she was not interested in because the country was changing. She would not have had the option to decline had it not been before the late 50s or early 60s.

There are times throughout the film where the character appears to be staring right at you as they speak. This helped make the film more intimate. Was it intentional? Most likely. In Tokyo Story, Ozu had the actors speaking directly into the camera, usually at a medium shot where the character is visible from the waist up. There are also a lot of two-shot scenes which shows two characters at the same visual height engaging in a conversation. Ozu also uses a lot of establishing shots for setting. This helps the audience know where the conversations are taking place. Another similarity between Late Autumn and Tokyo Story is that the camera does not switch scenes until the characters have completely walked off screen. I have admired this about Ozu’s work from the very beginning. Something about it makes the film more realistic. Reality does not shift scenes unexpectedly and neither should the cinema.

The main concept of this film is loyalty, without a doubt. This is very important in Japanese culture. The friends of the deceased are determined to help Ayako get married simply because she was Miwa’s daughter. They wanted to help in any way that they could. Unfortunately, Ayako was incredibly loyal to her mother which served as the conflict of the film seeing as she did not want to marry and live her mother lonesome. Coming from a person who is very close to her own mother, it was easy for me to put myself in Ayako’s shoes. If I was facing the same exact situation it would be hard for me to leave my mother alone. However Akiko’s character is understanding and patient. Her main concern was Ayako’s happiness which is ultimately what was reached at the end of the film when she does decide to marry.

The scene that stuck out to me the most was about half way through the film when Ayako asks her mother what she will do when she is married off. The scene is captured in medium shot, eye-level shot, and two-shot form. We see Ayako at eye-level shot, having her entire in view while she is in the kitchen. She walks over to her mother who is sitting at a small traditional Japanese kotatsu. Her mother is then shown in a medium shot telling Ayako that though she will be lonely she gives her her blessing to get married.

Overall, Ozu’s Late Autumn was interesting and sentimental; a promising combination. It had a simple plot to follow and showcased many of the traditional Japanese values, yet it reminded me very much of Western films – a personal interest of Ozu’s. The modernism of the film helps the audience stay intrigued while also teaching us a bit about how the Japanese go about marriage.

Tokyo Story Scene Analysis

"Noriko is Selfish" Scene from Tokyo Story (link)

Of all the films we have watched thus far throughout the semester I chose analyze a scene from Tokyo Story. The scene I chose is when Noriko is thanked by Shukichi for all her help, but she dismisses him gratitude by admitting that she is selfish. This scene resonated with me the most because I found it to be so unexpected. Noriko also admits to not thinking of Shukichi and Tomi’s deceased son, her ex-husband, as much as they were under the impression that she did.

In my sequence we are first viewing Noriko from full shot, showing her standing up, as she sees Kyoko off for she is leaving the house. Noriko does not leave the doorway until Kyoko is completely out of sight. I would like to make a point of this because Noriko is showing a great deal of hospitality in a house that is not her own. This is important to know because throughout the film she is incredibly generous to the Hirayama family, even more so than Shukichi and Tomi’s own children. You think that Noriko is doing this because she cannot let go of their son but we learn later that this is not the case.

Yasujiro Ozu is notorious for long takes in this specific film. We do not leave a scene until the characters are out of sight. Even then we are given several seconds to take in the mise-en-scene which I find to be a very effective way of going about a long shot. It places us in the scene so we are able to experience the exact length of time the characters are as they go about their business in the film. The shot following Kyoko’s departure is of Noriko entering the living room and cleaning up after a mess that was not made by her. We watch her fold and hang things up for the Hirayama family so they do not have to do it. We follow her out of that specific room only to enter another where she continues to tidy up. This room appears to be a sitting area for the typical Japanese family. There is a garden outside the doorway and multiple area rugs. Shukichi then comes into the shot while Noriko is folding. He asks her if Kyoko had left and she replies with a yes. She then sits down facing Shukichi as he stands before her and tells him she shall be leaving by train in the afternoon. This is when he sits down and begins to thank her for all that she has done.

With her back still to the camera, we hear Noriko say she has not done anything for the family. Shukichi disregards this and says “You’ve been a great help.” The next shot is a medium close up, showing Shukichi from the middle of his chest and up. He slowly turns his head, looking directly in the camera, and continues on about Noriko’s hospitality toward specifically Tomi during their visit to Tokyo. We then cut to Noriko, seeing her from the waist up as well, who is smilingly brightly which she does throughout the entire film. She humbly nods her head and says she did not have much to offer Tomi during her stay. Going back to Shukichi, we are presented with the same type of close up. What I like about their conversation is that Ozu chooses to show the characters as they are talking so we can see their facial expressions. This is important to the film because there are certain expressions that the characters use which describes their dispositions. As I stated before, Noriko is most always smiling during Toyko Story. This tells us in the beginning that she is a kind person and cares for the Hirayama family as if they were her own.

In the next shot we see Noriko, again in a medium close up, but her smile fades. This is the first time we see Noriko in almost a depressed state of mind. This specific shot alone indicates that there is about to be a change in the atmosphere regarding this conversation. It is not normal for the audience to be seeing Noriko looking down in sadness, so it is common sense that something major is about to happen or be said by Noriko’s character.

The next shot is of Shukichi and Noriko. It shows Noriko with her back to the camera and Shukichi fiddling with a paper fan. They are both looking down. There is a pause of supposed tension in this shot but it is broken by Shukichi when he tells Noriko that his wife was worried about her future. He also says “You can’t go on like this.” At this point he is looking at Noriko, no longer toying with the paper fan. He continues on to tell her that he would like to see her married again as soon as possible and to forget about his son and her ex-husband Shoji. Noriko has her head down while Shukichi is saying all of this.

Still no smile on her face, we cut back to Noriko where she proceeds to tell Shukichi that it is not like that. We are then taking back to the father in a medium close up where he tells Noriko that Tomi said she is the nicest woman she knows. The tension that was built up after Noriko’s smile faded away is at its prime when Noriko follows up Shukichi’s comment by saying “She overestimated me.” We see Shukichi again when is tells Noriko that she is wrong, but we quickly shift back to Noriko while she admits to not being the nice woman Tomi thought. Her smile is present again but it is a different kind of smile – nervous. Shukichi is shown once again trying to reassure Noriko, however we cut back to her while she says “Really, I’m quite selfish.”

In that same shot she goes on to tell Shukichi that she is not always thinking about Shoji. There is a cut back to him where he says “I’ll be happy if you forget him.” We are presented with a new angle after this, showing Noriko’s front while she is sitting down and Shukichi with his back to the camera while he, too, is still sitting. During this shot Noriko explains how there are times where she will not think about Shoji for days and how she does not feel like she could go on living like this. When she cannot sleep, she says, she wonders what would become of her if she continues this way. She admits to feeling a type of loneliness, stating that her heart seem to be waiting for something. After saying this she looks down at her lap and states again how she is selfish. Back to Shukichi in the medium close up, he tells her that she is not selfish. Shifting back to Noriko, she replies to his comment by assuring him that she is. She says this is a medium close up, still looking down at her lap. However she suddenly lifts her head up and admits to the father that she would not have been able to say this to Tomi. We turn back to Shukichi where he tells her it is alright. Shukichi goes on to tell Noriko that she is a good and honest woman.

The last two shots within the sequence I chose are of Noriko responding to Shukichi’s comment by saying “Not at all.” She says this line remorsefully, as if she is upset with herself that the Hirayama family does not have the right idea about her. The last shot is of Shukichi staring directly into the camera then looking down. The expression on his face is questionable. It is hard to determine what he is thinking at this moment which is ultimately when I selected this sequence. The audience is presented with the idea that Noriko is a wonderful person, but then she admits to not being the nice woman the Hirayama family considers her to be.

"I Was Born, But...": Images for mise en scene assignment

In this image we see a business man bowing in front of another man. This particular scene appears to be filmed in a long shot, showing us the bowing man's acute posture. The shot is also in deep focus. Other than the bowing man and the man he is supposedly bowing to, there is a woman standing off to the side and a little boy sitting on a patio chair with his back to us. The man being bowed down to is wearing a tennis cap while holding a racket. He is dressed in tennis attire while the woman to his side is dressed in a traditional kimono. They are standing close together. The little boy is wearing a nice hat and a plaid dress shirt. He appears to be the closest to us in the shot while also being the farthest from the adults. The bowing man is dressed in a business suit, holding his hat while he bows. They appear to be on the patio of a fine estate. There are exotic plants, a table, and chairs in the background. All of the furniture and windows are Western styled. 

Given the nature of the film, this image resembles the Yoshi's status in the town. Yes, he is one of the higher-ups at the firm and yes, he had been able to move to suburbs because of his income but this specific scene is almost embarrassing to watch because the man being bowed down to is none other than his boss, Iwasaki. The Yoshi family is middle class yet slowly working their way up. Because of this, the father feels obliged to honor his boss at any cost, including bowing down to him in such a ridiculous looking manner. This shows how hard Yoshi attempts to get on his boss's good side. The woman in the kimono is clearly Iwasaki's wife. Judging by the way she is standing and dressed, she has more authority than most women during this era had. The little boy is disinterested which is obvious due to the way he is sitting. It created the possibility that maybe he, too, looks down upon Yoshi in some ways because the little boy is already guaranteed stability because of his family name.