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- May 30, 2003
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Floating Weeds
Ozu (1959)
“Audiences today won’t understand good plays.”
A traveling troupe of actors makes its way to a coastal town in Japan. This isn’t one of their every day gigs. The leader of the group also is visiting a former lover and his secret son (who thinks he’s just an uncle). He’s a young man now, working at the post office. This revelation angers his current lover, a member of the troupe. For revenge, she encourages a fellow actress to seduce the young man and break his heart. Alas, she cannot. She loves the young man. The leader and his lover break up. The son and the young actress, to the father’s chagrin, stay together. Meanwhile the troupe itself is struggling. Its work is no longer appreciated like it once was and finances are tight. The manager bails. The troupe falls apart. The leader considers staying in town to reconcile with his old lover and son, but ultimately decides against it. He reunites with his most recent lover and they hop a train into an unsure future.
To quote another poster from the running “Latest Movie ...” thread, if you’ve seen one Ozu movie, you’ve seen them all. No truer than with Floating Weeds, which was a in color remake of his own A Story of Floating Weeds from 1934. I haven’t seen all of Ozu. Only four (I think) and I can’t refute the claim. Not that that’s a bad thing. His low-key familial and personal dramas have pull. It’s just rare I’m in the mood to sit down and experience it. He’s a thoughtful and patient filmmaker. To my detriment at times, I’m not always a thoughtful and patient film viewer. This is a good one though and one I’d use as a nice introduction to Ozu to anyone who is interested (though, as I admitted, I don’t have the deepest pool of experience to pick from here).
The shifting alliances and relationships could be the stuff of farce (right down to a character sneaking around, picking up tidbits of information to share with others). This is a more serious affair. Well, there is a Toshiro Mifune joke. It’s a good story. It’s actually the sort of universal tale that seems ripe for adaptation. Of course any American adaptation would probably up the drama of the drama. The temperatures don’t rise too much here. There are real emotions and drama, but little to no hysterics. It feels about as classically classical as classics can get.
Ozu (1959)
“Audiences today won’t understand good plays.”
A traveling troupe of actors makes its way to a coastal town in Japan. This isn’t one of their every day gigs. The leader of the group also is visiting a former lover and his secret son (who thinks he’s just an uncle). He’s a young man now, working at the post office. This revelation angers his current lover, a member of the troupe. For revenge, she encourages a fellow actress to seduce the young man and break his heart. Alas, she cannot. She loves the young man. The leader and his lover break up. The son and the young actress, to the father’s chagrin, stay together. Meanwhile the troupe itself is struggling. Its work is no longer appreciated like it once was and finances are tight. The manager bails. The troupe falls apart. The leader considers staying in town to reconcile with his old lover and son, but ultimately decides against it. He reunites with his most recent lover and they hop a train into an unsure future.
To quote another poster from the running “Latest Movie ...” thread, if you’ve seen one Ozu movie, you’ve seen them all. No truer than with Floating Weeds, which was a in color remake of his own A Story of Floating Weeds from 1934. I haven’t seen all of Ozu. Only four (I think) and I can’t refute the claim. Not that that’s a bad thing. His low-key familial and personal dramas have pull. It’s just rare I’m in the mood to sit down and experience it. He’s a thoughtful and patient filmmaker. To my detriment at times, I’m not always a thoughtful and patient film viewer. This is a good one though and one I’d use as a nice introduction to Ozu to anyone who is interested (though, as I admitted, I don’t have the deepest pool of experience to pick from here).
The shifting alliances and relationships could be the stuff of farce (right down to a character sneaking around, picking up tidbits of information to share with others). This is a more serious affair. Well, there is a Toshiro Mifune joke. It’s a good story. It’s actually the sort of universal tale that seems ripe for adaptation. Of course any American adaptation would probably up the drama of the drama. The temperatures don’t rise too much here. There are real emotions and drama, but little to no hysterics. It feels about as classically classical as classics can get.