So I just watched Early Summer. I kept getting characters confused because a handful of them all looked really similar so a re-watch will probs be in order, but my initial reactions are very positive. Nothing about the plot jumps out at you. If someone summarized the plot in a few sentences for me before I watched it, I can't say that I'd be too excited to watch it. However, the way everything is constructed is just wonderful. When Noriko says yes to Kenkichi's mom, I felt like I needed a group of fifteen year old girls so we could all jump up and down in our excitement. The little kids acted exactly as you would expect them to. Little, adorable brats who say and do the darnedest things. All of the characters in fact, once I got a handle on who was who, were all so believable. I wouldn't necessarily call it a 'feel good' movie, but I feel good having just watched it, if that makes sense. The meditative quality of Ozu perhaps? I'll soon find out. Late Spring is next.

Late Spring was... I don't even know what to say, bros. Ozu for life.

I'll continue talking to myself. I haven't got there yet, but after I watch An Autumn Afternoon and Tokyo Story, where's a good place to go next?

just continue more with the late period, you can't go wrong. But since people like specific directions, go with Equinox Flower to resurrect you from the scarring blow of Tokyo Story. Then you can counterbalance that with Tokyo Twilight, which is some dahkness territory for Ozu. Then after that get I Was Born But done, his silent masterpiece. If you feel like you want to cry your balls out again tho, go with The Only Son. Idk bro you just can't go wrong with the best director who ever lived.

Early Summer was excellent. Not quite as amazed as I was with Good Morning, but still very pleasing to watch. Like with Led, I had trouble at times with distinguishing between characters. All look alike and shit. Nah that's not true but in the beginning I was a bit confused.

I wouldn't call An Autumn Afternoon a flawed masterpiece because it doesn't really have any glaring issues that I can point out. But it isn't able to maintain it's greatness the entire length of the film. There are moments where loneliness bleeds out of the screen and my heart breaks (anything with the Gourd, the last scene). Also watching it, bearing in mind that it is Ozu's last film adds to the sadness and finality of that last scene. I don't know if Ozu ever can pass Kurosawa among my favorite directors just because AK was the formative director for me in my early days of film watching, but god dammit Ozu is trying.

Saw Late Spring and I don't know... I just don't think Ozu's for me. I appreciate his visual style and how he handles his characters, but the concepts (I guess) of his films just can't touch me on a personal level. He seems to fear (or at least his characters do) change. And the changes he speaks of are all far gone from my own experiences. For instance, Noriko's aunt may seem pushy and stuff, but I saw her as nothing more than a caring relative, just lacking empathy. My parents came from a generation of overbearing elders, so they're always telling me to do what I feel, which I feel has fucked me up cause now I have a whole world of possibilities and the scale of that makes me not want to try anything new for fear of failure and I kind of wish I had the structure and guidance she's given.... Well, then I guess it does sort of resonate with me on a personal level, after all. Just on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Then I guess my real problem is that it's old news to me and I want to see something new. Now, Mizoguchi, he shows me something new, but nobody ever wants to talk about him. Or perhaps it's just too many cultural differences. I got Early Summer on my computer, so I'll give him another shot.

I love the Mizoguchi that I've seen, but its harder for me to talk about his films. His mystical poetry is alluring and beautiful but I don't really know what to say aside from that. I can relate to Ozu's films more easily than I can to Mizoguchi's, and I think that's the case for others, as well.

I thought Sansho was more like a folk tale, rather than poetry. See, there's plenty to talk about.

Finally watched Tokyo Story. Without sounding too much like wanta, it's definitely the most tr00 of the Ozu films I've seen. It isn't my favorite, though. Late Spring mo bettah. I think I may have set myself up to be disappointed with my expectations for it. Or not as impressed, may be a better way of phrasing it. I'll have to rewatch it.

I Was Born, But... was great. Who didn't grow up comparing dads? It's kind of like a preview to Tokyo Story and the latter day Ozu. The parent-child relationship obvi being the focus, but we see it before everyone is grown up and the expectations haven't been met. There's that hope for a better life. Between knowing how things turn out in the later Ozu films and lines like "Do you think they'll lead the same sorry lives we have?" and "Don't be an apple-polisher like your old man." you feel the foreboding that whatever idealism they have will soon be shattered and crushed, even though this is largely lighthearted. The eternal battle between pessimism and hope that permeates in all of Ozu's films is all here, but I think that hope actually wins this one.

More talking to myself...

I just watched The Only Son. The subtlety that Ozu has is really amazing. This didn't crush me the way that Late Spring, An Autumn Afternoon, or Tokyo Story did, but it was still real good.

That's strange cuz The Only Son I find one of his saddest films. The whole opening sequence with Ryosuke and his mother gets me every single time. It reminds me of when I was kid growing up and desperately wanting to be successful and to help my parents out and to prove to be a great man, shit i still seek that. Then you have the most sublime gesture of the mother wiping her tears with her son's hand.

Another flooring bit for me was when older Ryosuke gives his money to his neighbor for her son's accident. If you want to get me going in tears, it's not really "sad" moments per se, but truly heroic and charitable acts that I find devastating. And if you want to push me even further, have the victim be truly grateful and express humbling gratitude to the act (Neighbor humbled after getting the money, Early Summer's proposal scene, Noriko getting a watch in Tokyo Story etc.). It's really just people being good that raise the most out of me.

It's a very poignant film for me and it's one of Ozu's films adapted from his own personal story. So many details where it mirrored my own life experiences (another one to add, albeit more humorously, is having my mother fall asleep to films I like and want to share the experience with only to have them fall asleep).

Indeed, I thought it was very poignant. The story itself is both heartbreaking and uplifting, but the composition of it all just wasn't on par for me. Still quite good as I'm comparing it to Late Spring and Tokyo Story, two all time fav 10/10s, just not on that level.