Floating Weeds boasts the visual beauty and deep tenderness of director Yasujiro Ozu's most memorable films -- and it's one of the few the master shot in color.
Floating Weeds boasts the visual beauty and deep tenderness of director Yasujiro Ozu's most memorable films -- and it's one of the few the master shot in color.
This 1959 Ozu production centers on the likable but fallible leader of an itinerant acting troupe ("floating weeds" being the Japanese name for such groups), Kimajuro, played brilliantly by Ganjiro Nakamura. The film opens on a lazy, stagnant river as the troupe lays spread about on a boat deck drifting downstream. It's obvious that they're a ragged bunch as they sit fanning themselves and smoking on deck. The boat pulls into a quiet fishing village where the troupe proceeds to canvass the town,
hanging up posters and performing impromptu stunts for the inhabitants. Kimajuro and his actress mistress, Sumiko (Machiko Kyo), head to the theatre and secure their cramped quarters above the theatre's main hall. Kimajuro leaves to pay a visit to a local saki bar owned by Oyoshi (Haruko Sugimura), who, years previous, had conceived a child with Kimajuro. The child has grown into a strapping young man, Kiyoshi (Hiroshi Kawaguchi), who has a good job at the post office. Kimajuro, although clearly proud of his son, has refused to take responsibility for the child and Kiyoshi thinks Kimajuro is merely his uncle. Unbeknownst to Kimajuro, Sumiko has discovered his secret, and, infuriated, hires a young actress to seduce Kiyoshi. Terrified that his son is falling for this woman of loose morals, Kimajuro has to decide what's most important: keeping his secret safe or saving his son by acknowledging his paternity. ~ Brian Whitener, Rovi
Sooner or later, everyone who loves movies comes to Ozu. He is the quietest and gentlest of directors, the most humanistic, the most serene. But the emotions that flow through his films are strong and deep.
This is a vibrant movie, one of his few in colour, and touches on universal themes through the story of a middle-aged actor and his young mistress coming with a second-rate kabuki company to a small coastal town.
The sheer beauty of Ozu's exquisite (and typically eccentric) compositions and the expressive use of sound tell all you need know about the characters, their emotions and relationships.
Richly atmospheric, with its expressive use of colour, lyrical cutaways, and masterly interior compositions -- predominantly shot from Ozu's trademark low-level camera position -- impressively illustrating the director's visual artistry.
A poignant tale of everyday folk; their lives, loves and losses, rendered with exquisite care, compassion and no small measure of humanity by one of the masters of Japanese cinema.
a rare remake of a film directed by the same auter of the original, ozu retells his silent 1934 classic with the use of sound, dialogue, and color cinematography. suprisingly the only reason this film is even slightly better than the original is ozu's ability to flesh out the story more with 30 extra minutes and
talking actors, but the original silent is so amazing that both films should be seen as top notch films. this version is more light hearted than the original but still dark in its own ways, and the telling of this father/son story is beautiful and effective. a truly wonderful film.
November 27, 2007
danny d
Super Reviewer
Maybe I just don't like Japanese films, but this is overrated to the hilt. The story is average and the cinematography isn't as cathartic as most would delude themselves into thinking. It was long and boring but it wasn't just that I disliked - it was Ozu's assuming of self-importance that from the start turned me off
the film.
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