An Autumn Afternoon - Criterion CollectionDirected by Yasujiro Ozu
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Product Description
Yasujiro Ozu's final film is also his final masterpiece, the gently heartbreaking story of a man's dignified resignation to both life s ever-shifting currents and society's gradual modernization. Though widower Shuhei Hirayama (Ozu's frequent leading man Chishu Ryu) has been living comfortably for years with his grown daughter, a series of events leads him to accept and encourage her marriage and departure. As elegantly composed and achingly tender as any of the Japanese master's films, An Autumn Afternoon (Sanna no aji) is one of cinema s fondest farewells. SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES: New, restored high-definition digital transfer, New audio commentary featuring David Bordwell, author of Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema, Excerpts from Yasujiro Ozu and the Taste of Sake, a 1978 French television program looking back on Ozu's career, featuring film critic Michel Ciment, Theatrical trailer, New and improved English subtitle translation, PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by film scholars Geoff Andrew and Donald Richie
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #522 in DVD
- Released on: 2008-09-30
- Rating: Unrated
- Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
- Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
- Original language: Japanese
- Subtitled in: English
- Number of discs: 1
- Running time: 113 minutes
Review
A completely realized example of the Ozu art. --New York Times
Review
One of Ozu's purest, most elemental works. --Dave Kehr, CHICAGO READER
Customer Reviews
Great movie...beware of booklet
I love Ozu and Criterion, but my booklet is missing several pages. I have notified Criterion. Hopefully they will fix this.
The Taste of an Autumn Mackerel........
This was Yasujiro Ozu's final film. Is it phenomenally different than other Ozu works? Is it a film that takes Ozu in a radically different direction? No. It's just the final chapter in one of the most unique filmographies in cinema history. It's like all his other films, in that it's contemplative, beautiful, moving, serene, and simple, yet, it feels new and unique. Ozu's films, if taken all together, are like a long novel, all leading up to this one, which ended up being the final chapter (even though Ozu did not intend it to be that way). Many say that a filmmaker just keeps remaking the same film all his/her life, and with Ozu that may be true. A friend of mine criticised his aesthetic because of this, but whenever I watch a film of his, I feel so alive and peaceful. Ozu's plots are often the same with minor variations, yet, I am watching a great artist paint another portrait in film, and I don't feel that Ozu is repeating himself at all. Despite the differences between the films, the films all feel unique and gentle. They are filled with a deep humanism, and they are all knowing and filled with that eternal longing.
The original title of this film was The Taste of an Autumn Mackerel, which doesn't really translate well into English. The American title is An Autumn Afternoon, and it's a much better title for the film. It's a great, wonderful film, a worthy final chapter to one of the greatest, most unique directors in cinema history.
This film deals with a simple concern : the feelings between the human beings . Ozu focuses his poetic eye in the increasingly Americanized postwar Tokyo . His unique style with the fixed camera at the kneel height is wonderful but it turns excessively steady and can result unbearable .
Nevertheless he created a vivid and poignant portrait about a father giving up his only daughter in marriage . Haunting , humorous and disturbing . This was the Op. 53 and the last one film of this giant japanese film maker.
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