net_orders Review of An Autumn Afternoon

An Autumn Afternoon (1962)

An Often Told Tale; But Best Of The Bunch.

[7/10 · 18 July 2016]

Viewed on DVD. Restoration = ten (10) stars. The story line (yet again) deals with the conflicts arising from twenty-something, unmarried (and attractive) daughters living with (and focused on caring for) aging widowed fathers (who need to get on with their lives). To say that Director Yasujiro Ozu was obsessed with variation on this theme would be a vast understatement. He kept making essentially the same film over and over (trying to get things right or just stuck in a non-creative funk?) with translated titles often including the name of a season. Sort of like a TV series with one episode per season (pun intended). But the version presented in this film is the best of the bunch. The same old story line is significantly punched up with a robust, imaginative script offering a wide variety of plot-related and tangential events (including the game of Go which is rarely--if ever--seen in the "classical" Japanese cinema), and often amusing scenes populated by engaging character actors in cameo appearances. And the pacing is "brisk," at least by this Director's standards. The film also reflects fascinating aspects of contemporary Japanese life and culture (circa early 1960's). Many of the same actors and actresses appear in this film as they have in others of the series, but mostly play different roles (as is usually the case). The male lead actor (Chishu Ryu) turns in another stunning performance. Same interiors, scenes and sequence of scenes, and even shots and sequence of shots as employed in prior films. Music is heard during most of the movie, and resembles film scores from the European cinema and, especially, the Italian cinema of the era. Kimonos look exquisite, even the "everyday" ones. Cinematography (color) and sound are fine. Visual effects are primitive. Subtitles are indispensable for helping with the Western dialect used throughout the film. A keeper. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.