This is one of those mild Japanese family dramas that I feel like barely exist in English, at least in North American cinema. In so many North American films, some kind of plot would need to be introduced, or there would need to be more histrionics, or something. Here, there are emotions, but they are mostly contained, like you would expect in a Japanese film.
The film takes place over roughly 24 hours in the life of a family on the anniversary of the eldest son’s death. As with many Japanese dramas, there are underlying norms that us westerners may not fully understand that inform the mild interpersonal conflict between the daughter and son and their parents. The main one here is the role of the eldest son who, in this family, died saving someone else’s life.
Everything is mostly very measured, with only the father and son really showing anger and everyone else showing the restraint we usually associate with Japanese families in these types of films. The cast is very good with everyone seeming to inhabit their role. (Of course, I don’t really know these actors as most Japanese films I’ve seen were made before at least some of these actors were were working so I don’t have too many associations.
I think the film works quite well and I do feel like Japanese cinema and some other national cinemas have a little bit of a leg up on us when it comes to telling these types of complicated family dynamic stories. Everything always feels more real, at least to my personal experience, than the screaming and fighting that we often get in English-language versions.
But I do get a sense of deja vu. Though it’s much older and a different story, this film makes me think of something like Tôkyô monogatari and I don’t know how much something like this has to say about the Japanese family and the generational divide that a film like that already said. Maybe that’s unfair especially given Ozu’s reputation for doing this kind of thing better than anyone else in the world. But I still do feel like I have seen films like this before, that were just as good, only earlier.
Still, I’d take something like this over so many familial dramas from other cultures. I can’t really say much in criticism.
8/10 I guess.