Film: Equinox Flower
Release date: 17th January 2011
Certificate: U
Running time: 118 mins
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Starring: Shin Saburi, Kinuyo Tanaka, Ineko Arima, Yoshiko Kuga, Keiji Sada
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Studio: BFI
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
It was only after his death in 1963 that the films of Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu began to be widely appreciated in the west, and he is now held in high esteem by the likes of Mike Leigh, Jim Jarmusch and Wim Wenders. This dual format disc containing two of Ozu’s best loved films shows how important the twin themes of family and the impermanence of life and culture was to the influential director. There Was A Father (1942) and Equinox Flower (1958) both explore shifting family dynamics to quietly powerful effect.
Ozu’s first colour film, 1958’s Equinox Flower, is probably the pick of the two films; a slyly amusing comedy starring Shin Saburi as Wataru Hirayama, an old-fashioned father and businessman who is in for a nasty surprise when he discovers that his eldest daughter has decided to marry a man he and his wife know nothing about.
Mr Hirayama (somehow it seems inappropriate, given his character, to refer to him by his first name) is a likeable but deeply paternalistic man who believes that is his task, with the support of his dutiful wife, to arrange marriages for his daughters.
Mr Hirayama is aware that Japan is changing and that the traditions he holds dear are not as important to the younger generation, but when it his own daughter challenging him he finds it difficult to adapt.
Eventually, however, and partly due to a little deviously amusing trickery on the part of a younger female relative, he begrudgingly accepts that his daughter’s will is her own.
Earlier film There Was A Father (packaged as a bonus feature) is a 1942 wartime drama about the relationship between a similarly straight-laced father, Shuhei Horikawa (Chishu Ryu), and his son Ryohei.
Shuhei is a widower and teacher who decides to quit his profession following a tragic boating accident. This change sets in motion a series of events that will separate Shuhei from his young son, with the tearful youngster carted off to boarding school.
As the years go by, and Ryohei reaches adulthood, he realises that his father made great sacrifices in order to give him the best possible education, but he still yearns to spend more time with him…
In some ways, particularly in terms of its visual style, Equinox Flower appears far ahead of its time. Ozu is known as a director who refused to pander to Hollywood conventions relating to both visual techniques and narrative structure, and Equinox Flower has a highly distinctive look that owes much to the ‘tatami shot’ that Ozu pioneered; a low shot named after the tatami mats used in Japanese homes to sit on, and beautifully composed static or near static shots that linger on the screen, highlighting the visually arresting geometry of domestic and urban spaces.
The use of colour is also important, especially the contrast between the rich, warm colours in the shots of domestic interiors and the more intense colours of commercial signs in the city. This contrast isn’t just a visual device; it draws attention to the shift from traditional to modern values that is central to the film’s story and Mr Hirayama’s dilemma.
For its time, the acting seems wonderfully understated, even in the film’s more comic moments, or when Mr Hirayama is responding with petulant anger to his daughter’s refusal to submit to his will. The humour in Equinox Flower is subtle but pointed; in one particularly enjoyable scene that redefines the notion of toilet humour. Mr Hirayama, unable to continue listening to an annoying woman’s incessant chatter about her attempts to arrange a marriage for her daughter, politely excuses himself by claiming he needs to go the toilet, then heads straight back to his office to escape her babbling.
The performances in There Was A Father are similarly understated, but in place of comedy there is an aching sense of loss, of physical distance between father and son, but also of love and connectedness. In spite of living far from one another for many years, there is a strong bond between father and son that is evident even when they are apart.
There Was A Father does show its age more than Equinox Flower, not simply because it was shot in black-and-white, but because the best print available has deteriorated over time, to the point that the sound quality is sometimes quite poor, and the film scratchy. Even so, it’s interesting to see an earlier example of Ozu’s work; one that shares the underlying thematic focus of his later work.
If you’re interested in Asian cinema of the past and want an introduction to one of Japan’s most influential and respected directors, this double bill is a great place to start. Ozu’s films are clearly rooted in the Japanese experience, but his explorations of family life have a universal appeal that transcends time and place. JG
No comments:
Post a Comment