Equinox Flower (1958) User Reviews (20)

Ozu at the top his game

[martin-f · 8/10 · 24 April 2006]

Is there a director in the history of cinema with a more distinct style than Yasujiro Ozu? 1958's Equinox Flower was Ozu's first colour film and concerns itself with one of his favourite themes – the family and it's discontents. The film is set during a time when arranged marriages were being challenged in Japan and it pits the emerging youth of the country, full of post war freedom and optimism, against their traditional parents who are finding it difficult to let go of their customs and ultimately their children.

A Tokyo businessman, Waturu Hirayama, is continually approached by friends for advice, friends who have become powerless as parents and are struggling to impose their will on their daughters. Hirayama's apparent disappointment and resignation regarding his own arranged marriage informs his advice throughout. Consequently he is often conciliatory and impartial, trying his best to get both sides to see each other's point of view. Neither traditional nor modern in his outlook, instead he takes a humanist approach and strives for harmony amongst the protagonists.

However, when a young man he has never met before enters his office and asks him for his own daughter's hand in marriage he finds it difficult to adopt this approach for himself and his family. On the one hand, he is initially hurt by the apparent lack of respect and involvement that he feels he should have been afforded by the young couple. He questions his role as a father and feels castrated by this power being taken out of hands. On the other hand, though, he suffers a sense of loss. He has nothing personal against the young man, and after making enquiries, is assured of his good nature. Nevertheless, rather than gaining a son, he's acutely aware that he is losing a daughter and, with that, some of his own identity. Not only losing her in marriage but also to a new way of life, a new culture where Hirayama is unsure of his role.

In a broader sense, Equinox Flower, also offers an insight into the fast socio-cultural changes in post-war Japan as it becomes more influenced by capitalism and Western culture. Throughout the film, Hirayama alludes to the fact that his business and his workload are becoming increasingly busier. Scenes are often interspersed with images of industrial development and progress mixed with more traditional scenes of mountain ranges, the countryside and churches. It's also worth noting that, throughout the film, it is largely the women that are seen as the advocates of change, trying to find greater equality in a patriarchal society. The men, in comparison, are seen as passive and confused. Japan itself, like Hirayama, is going through a struggle, a process of change that tries to balance the traditional against the modern.

Stylistically, Ozu's cinema is remarkable for those willing to give it a chance. All his trademarks are here – zero camera movement, single character shots and evocative editing techniques. His unwillingness to ever let the camera move allows him to frame scenes as if they were photographs or paintings where the characters then suddenly come to life. His use of colour, here for the first time, is accomplished to say the least. Combine that with some wonderful sets and scenery and at times you could be forgiven for thinking you're watching an old MGM musical. Most remarkable of all, though, are Ozu's trademark tatami-level shots. Using a special camera dolly to simulate the three foot height of the average person kneeling or sitting on a tatami pad, Ozu creates a way of seeing the world that is specifically Japanese, specifically Ozu.

The style is so unique and effective that it's difficult to imagine films being directed any other way. Buy the box sets, ration yourself to one film a year and you're in for a rare treat.

A Tender Comedy of the Mundane

[ilpohirvonen · 9/10 · 27 July 2013]

The emptiness of the space in the very first images of "Equinox Flower" makes an impact on the viewer. An opening of this sort resembles those of Ozu's most famous films such as "Late Spring" and "Tokyo Story". However, soon we find out that "Equinox Flower" differs quite remarkably from these since it is essentially a comedy. In the first scene of the film Ozu instantly introduces the marriage motif -- a recurring subject in his oeuvre -- as two railroad workers are wondering the great amount of newly-weds. Only few artists have been able to establish a theme and set a tone, which are fully consistent with the rest of the work, so quickly yet still with such restraint and precision. Therefore, it is certain to the viewer from the start that what unfolds is the craft of a master.

At its heart, "Equinox Flower" is a tender comedy because it fluently combines two aspects, which too often appear as contradictory, the ironic and the melancholic. Striking is also the fact that the film is Ozu's first comedy in approximately two decades. One must go back to the silent days to find a benchmark. This choice of return seems to coincide with Ozu's new sympathy (though I use the word hesitantly) for the younger generation, whereas he so often has sympathized the elders. It seems to me that in "Equinox Flower" the lightness and hopeful attitude towards life, noticeable in Ozu's earlier films, merges with the Chekhovian wisdom and elegiac tone of his later oeuvre.

To an extent, "Equinox Flower" is a satirical treatise on the decline of parental and especially patriarchal authority in the Japanese family and society. However, Ozu is never hostile nor aggressive. He doesn't point out. He reveals. Although there are moments when Ozu lets us laugh at the protagonist's helplessness when trapped by his own outdated norms, Ozu never attacks on him. In addition to theme, Ozu's return to comedy also marked a turning point in his visual development because he used color for the first time, which later on became an inseparable element in his subsequent films. As a consequence, the world of colors in "Equinox Flower" is strikingly rich and precisely considered, leaving the viewer with several memorable and widely associative visual motifs.

"Equinox Flower" is in many ways what one might call a simple film. There's not much of a story going on, let alone action of any kind, nor surprising twists in plot. Nonetheless, the viewer (any viewer whether an admirer of Ozu or not) is left with a powerful impact by the rich simplicity of the visuals; and the utter beauty of details. Above all, "Equinox Flower" is purely based on Ozu's unique poetry of the mundane; a vital principle in his cinema.

Due to this simplicity, many western viewers have blamed, or at least explained their discontent, Ozu's films for a slow pace, but this criticism, however, doesn't really hit the mark because Ozu's films precisely create their own time in the poetic universe which differs from our world. In this rhythm or, in fact, Ozu's perception of time lies profound melancholy. The days go by, the clothes line dances in the wind, and emptiness prevails. In "Equinox Flower" the older generation remembers the war-time days, recalling especially its better times of carefree coexistence. In turn, such ideals as personal happiness and privacy threatened by the old, arranged, communal joy throb beneath the youth's dialogue. Ozu's characters are often aware of this melancholy -- human transience in the passage of time -- which brings sadness to their existence. A sensation that the old is about to vanish is always present, though so is the characters' ability to accept things as they are. As time is such an important theme for Ozu, his films can never be summed up with mere concepts such as "comedy" or "tragedy" since their (aesthetic) perspective is never restricted, but always reach to the most profound perspective of all, which is that of philosophy.

Equinox Flower (1958)

[SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain · 9/10 · 12 December 2011]

Equinox Flower was Ozu's first color film. He was reluctant to do it, but he shouldn't have been. He handles the addition so well. The colors really do join every scene together. Equinox Flower deals with one father's hypocritical view of love and marriage. It begins at a wedding where Hirayama makes a speech to his friend's daughter. He says how lucky they are to be able to choose their own partner. He does this in front of his wife in a very awkward moment. Hirayama and Kiyoko's relationship is interesting. They make their marriage work, even if there wasn't love there at first. They work together and never feel that they are trapped in this relationship. Despite his new world views during this wedding, once his daughter announces she wishes to marry a man, Hirayama is opposed. His hypocritical views are the cause of much comedy. He is also forced to face his prejudices as he finds a daughter of an old friend who has run away to be with her struggling musician boyfriend. Hirayama is supportive of everyone but his own daughter. Again though, with Ozu's eloquence, Hirayama is not a villain. It is understandable that he has different views concerning his own daughter. A group of men sit around and discuss the differences between sons and daughters. The growth of the whole family is well plotted and emotional. It's another wonderful and gentle deconstruction of Japanese family values.

Life as Arranged

[tedg · 14 September 2008]

Ozu is such a pleasure, a quiet one, meditative.

The story here is about lives, whether they are arranged and what agency we have in arranging them. Many viewers will suppose that the topic was chosen because of some desire to make a comment about Japanese society.

No, its because the filmmaker had turned introspective in his later years. His films are characterized by the way the shots are composed. Each one is a matter of absolute perfection. The perfection is so complete, you have to stop and study. You have to rerun certain scenes to see how amazingly the components arrange. He is the ultimate classical Japanese composer. Sometimes you see that the sets must have been especially built for one setup. Pure geometries and symmetries dominate. The camera is always static.

The effect is that what you see has nature. Its natural, human. It flows in much the same languid, undramatic way that life does around us. But what we see is that flow in a highly composed context. Every element in that context naturally occurs but seems to have found its own harmony to please the eye of the viewer. Its the cinematic Japanese garden.

There's a subtle thing here. Ordered nature presented so that the human composition seems so in tune with nature that we love it. But it is arranged. It is pure and unnatural too, sort of abstractly sublime.

This viewer is a Westerner who works with Japanese concepts of ideal, natural harmony. Watching this makes me cry with a pleasure that avoids being joy.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Stilted but excellent

[sharptongue · 8/10 · 15 December 2001]

This is the first Ozu film I've seen, though I did see a film about him many years ago. Therefore, I am aware of Ozu's liking for a particular and eccentric camera angle, and his apparent preference for an acting style which is, depending on your point of view, understated, stilted or highly restricted. Ozu appears to like portraying what is perhaps the reality of a culture which values conformity.

Take a tip - adjust quickly to the apparently straightjacketed acting. This is an excellent cast, whose talent shines through even Ozu's iron hand.

And it makes the humour even more effective. I was astonished at just how much I, and the rest of the audience, laughed out loud at a few of the scenes. I find it difficult to simply convey why it works. Suffice to say Ozu is clearly a master of the slow buildup. There's a scene where the father takes one of his employees to a bar, to meet a girl who is the daughter of one of his friends. The girl has run away and cut off contact with her dad. The central character tries to get her to at least talk it over. The humour of this scene revolves around the acute embarrasment the junior employee feels, as a regular patron. Ozu milks this scene for every last laugh with a master's touch. Sounds dull as I've written it, right ? Well, on screen, it's a killer.

After this film, I'll look forward much more to my next Ozu.

Very slow--even for an Ozu film--but still well worth seeing.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 4 October 2011]

It's pretty obvious when the film begins that it's one of Yasujirô Ozu's newest films. That's because unlike almost all of his movies, this one is filmed in color. In fact, it's his first color film. Like other Ozu films it features a camera positioned very low--like the cameraman is sitting on the floor. It's odd but works in Ozu's films because of the traditional Japanese tables and futons--all very close to the floor. The plot unfolds very slowly and the film also is a domestic drama--about a daughter who may be marrying and moving out of her home. This is a very common theme--young people moving to adulthood and the sort of conflicts this creates as well as conflicts between traditional and modern values . And, like so many of his later films, it features some of the same old reliable actors. One thing you've gotta say about Ozu--when he found a formula that worked, he REALLY stuck with it. While his films are adored and are often considered masterpieces, there is a strong sense of déjà vu as you watch them!

This is the story of a middle-aged man and his family. Early in on the film, you learn that the father and mother had an arranged marriage--something very common in Japan up until recently. You can tell that Dad was not thrilled by this and he even likes the idea of people picking their own spouses. Yet, when his own daughter wants to marry a man of her choosing, he refuses to give consent. He's adamant--even though he agrees with the concept of allowing your grown children to run their own lives--provided, of course, they are not HIS children! This is MILDLY humorous (it's cute the way the father gets manipulated repeatedly) and a nice critique of post-war Japan--when families, values and norms were all in flux. In other words, this man's conflicts were a mirror of conflicts in Japan as a whole--the old Japan and the new, and much less tradition-bound Japan.

While this is a beautifully made film, you should be aware that like so many of Ozu's films, it has a very leisurely pace. My advice is although he was a wonderful filmmaker, you might first try some more approachable directors films--such as Kurosawa or a Zatoichi film. That's because Western audiences often balk at such slow pacing (particularly here in hyperactive America). If you do watch it, brew a pot of tea or coffee to help you stay focused--it's worth it, as it's a sweet and exceptional film.

Pick up my clothing, woman

[cafescott · 10/10 · 18 March 2014]

User reviewer Martin-f has an excellent summary ("Ozu at the top his game", martin-f from United Kingdom, 24 April 2006).

'Equinox Flower' is an incredible example of film art. It is my favorite (so far) film of Yasujirō Ozu. Ozu is a daring filmmaker because he handicaps himself almost completely. All of his contemporaries were moving their camera (e.g., the spectacular single-shot opening of Orson Welles's 1958 "Touch of Evil"). Ozu refuses to.

Ozu also refuses to provide dramatic subject material besides family arguments over whom a young girl marries. He also frequently has the camera on the floor looking up at his characters when they are seated, which is often. The actors are never allowed to veer off script, which often is banal dialogue. Finally, most of Ozu's imagery appears like a painting. This is Ozu's first color film; he makes quite a remarkable splash in this medium.

This is regarded as a comedy/romance. We should also say it concerns Japanese manners and patriarchy. We often see in Ozu's films a husband returning to the home from work, removing layers of his clothing and dropping them on the floor for his dutiful wife to take care of. (If Western males tried this there would be Hell to pay.) We see it multiple times here, and this husband/wife interaction helps identify the power relationship between big CEO and patriarch Wataru Hirayama (Shin Saburi) with his wife Kiyoko (Kinuyo Tanaka). At the film's opening when Wataru makes an impromptu speech at a wedding, he insults Kiyoko by publicly lamenting forced marriages like the one he had. Needless to day, Ozu does not plan on Kiyoko enduring these insults forever. She turns out to be a formidable rival.

There are three other young women. The woman playing daughter Sesuko's friend is great (i.e., who plays the pivotal trick on Wataru). She has a great role and she plays it very well.

Finally, Ozu's visual aesthetics are very well chosen and delightful. If you have the patience for 'Equinox Flower', it is very worthwhile.

Another delight from the master

[tomgillespie2002 · 9/10 · 15 October 2011]

Businessman Wataru (Shin Saburi) is continually approached by his friends and co-workers for advice and help, especially when it concerns potential marriages for their daughters. He is approached by Mikami (Ozu regular Chisu Ryu) who is concerned that his daughter has gone off with a man from a lesser family with a low-paid job. He agrees to meet her and try to talk some sense into her. One day at work, he is approached by a man named Maniguchi (Keiji Sada) who asks for his daughter's hand in marriage. Wataru is horrified that his daughter Setsuko (Ineko Arima) has been seeing this man without his knowledge, and insists that marrying him is not the right decision.

Japanese master is again on familiar ground with this gentle drama. Again, he explores themes of family, and change in a post-war Japanese society. Wataru is not a traditionalist by nature - he is generally quite open-minded, but only when it comes to his friend's families. When he has tea with one of Setsuko's friends, she explains how her mother is obsessed with finding her a match with a man with a decent job and background. Wataru is agreed that her mother is stuck in her ways. It becomes clear that Wataru is simply a father who cannot let go of his daughter. It's a sentiment that anyone, even those without children, can relate to.

Ozu does make a point of showing the increasing differences in attitudes between the generations. The parents are children of war. Wataru and his wife Kiyoko (Kinuyo Tanaka) discuss memories of being in the bomb shelters. Ozu doesn't want us to see the elders as narrow-minded and old-fashioned, but instead as people who grew up with danger and death all around them, and clearly hold protection and security in high regard, and for good reason. However, Ozu does show the women of Equinox Flower as the stronger sex, and the biggest advocates for change. Kiyoko tries to change Wataru's mind, but realises that this is a decision he will make on his own.

The film is full of Ozu's usual traits, including the usual gorgeous cinematography - and this is his first to be shot in colour. His camera is ever-still, watching from low angles, usually through doorways. He is offering his audience a window into these people's lives, and allows them to give their naturalistic courtesies as they would if no-one was watching. It is a delight watching a true master at work, and it's amazing how he finds fresh and fascinating ways to explore similar themes. I've never seen any of his films that haven't been anything less than brilliant, and I'm still to see his widely celebrated Tokyo Story (1953). An absolute delight.

www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Discover 1950's Japan

[kpk10 · 7/10 · 11 December 2013]

This film is awash with rich color, much like those of Douglas Sirk in 1950s Hollywood - remarkable, given that this is Ozu's debut effort in color filmmaking. And the film is indeed very much of its time - 1958 and a transition to "contemporary" Japan. In the course of our protagonist's day he goes from an office, with its rows of "company men" toiling over paperwork in a modern high rise, to his traditional home with tatami mats. He sheds his Western clothes each evening by dropping them on the floor (for his wife to pick up) and transforming himself into the stern paterfamilias in his yukata.

This is a domestic tale of a man and the three (or four) young women he advises in matters of the heart. No King Lear, this is rather a Japanese "Father Knows Best - not". Travel gently to this non-ironic look at a Japanese family in the era of early "Mad Men", and let the color,time period,and Ozu's visual clarity carry you along.

Consistency is overrated

[GyatsoLa · 8/10 · 20 March 2011]

This is Ozu's first color film, and also one of his more lighthearted later films. It also stands out as perhaps his first film where he unambiguously takes the side of rebellious youth over the wisdom of age.

In a universally great cast, Shin Saburi plays a typical Japanese father - a successful executive with a nice home life, two lovely daughters, and a dutiful wife. He is, by the standards of the time, an open minded and liberal man who, we see from the very beginning, welcomes the idea of a marriage based on love, rather than the more traditional arrangements, such as his own marriage. He is also very much a hypocrite as he (provoked by a clumsy attempt to ask for his hand) refuses his elder daughter permission to marry the man she loves. His objection to the marriage has less to do with the suitor than, it seems, his feelings that his paternal authority has been undermined.

As with all Ozu films, it gradually meanders to its close with a general acceptance by all the characters that life goes on and that only by tolerating each other can society move forward. The tone of the film is more comic than usual (some very amusing scenes), and it lacks the emotional punch of some other Ozu films. It is a bit more loosely plotted than usual, with an unusually contrived plot by Ozu standards, but its still a pleasant and wise film.

One standout performance is the quietest of them all - the great actress Kinuyo Tanaka plays the traditional wife. In one crucial scene, the camera lingers on her face as she is quietly absorbed in listening to music on the radio - telling us all we need to know about this woman who has sacrificed her individuality for her husband and family. It is in little moments of magic like this that Ozu films show why they are essential viewing - this film, while not one of his major works, is no exception.

An uninformed review

[Spleen · 7/10 · 8 June 2000]

Declaration of ignorance: this is the first film by Ozu I've seen (and while I'm not unwilling to see more, I doubt I'll go out of my way). I gather all his films have much the same style. Every shot is taken through the same lens, by a stationary camera which is always placed in the same position relative to the actors (knee-level, by the looks of it). The result is that we see simple, square image after simple, square image until we forget that there's any other kind.

I disapprove of this on principle. Even if this technique works in a single film it's surely too limited to build an entire career out of. And how well can it work in even a single film, with the camera is so resolutely idle? It looks to me as if Ozu's dogmatism condemns him to a career of minor creations.

And that's what `Higanbana' is, although I'm bound to say that it's a GOOD minor creation. The story is a kind of `Guess Who's Coming to Dinner', involving a decidedly liberal father who's shocked to the core when he finds HIS daughter wants to marry a stranger and is prepared to do so without his permission - although he comes around in the end, of course. That's about it. But despite the absence of story and the static images, the film doesn't move slowly, or not unpleasantly so. `Leisurely' is the word I'd use. It's a very easy film to like. You'll probably find yourself interested in the characters despite everything; failing that, if you're a Westerner, you'll get an agreeably strong dose of culture shock in an intelligible form.

"Ever with us are the dreams of our youth."

[JSL26 · 9/10 · 6 May 2021]

This line uttered by Ozu favorite, Chishu Ryu, toward the end of the story helps sum up the mixture of comedy and melancholy that pervades this excellent film. The other reviewers have well described the amusing irony of Wataru Harayama's (Shin Saburi) avuncular support of his friends' daughters' desires to marry for love but his shocked resistance when he finds out about his own daughter's similar desires. But alongside Ozu's depiction of the daughters' plans for their futures is that of the fathers' nostalgia for their pasts.

Harayama, Ryu's character Mikami, and their other friends from middle school days have stayed in touch and regularly compare notes about their carefree days before their own arranged marriages, workday routines, and worries about their daughters. In one scene of a class reunion they wear uniforms, sing songs, and recite elegiac poems. And the one wife we meet, Harayama's (brilliantly played by Kinuyo Tanaka), who has stoically borne her husband's discontent all these years, sees her patience rewarded as she becomes the bridge between him and his daughter.

One other note of reality--Yukiko, the delightfully liberated daughter of a family friend who conspires with Harayama's daughter to play a crucial trick on Harayama, was played by Fujiko Yamamoto who lit up every scene she was in. I wondered why I hadn't heard more about her, and found out from Wikipedia that at the height of her popularity in 1963, when her contract was up for renewal, she asked for some better terms and the head of her studio (Daiei) not only fired her but invoked an agreement with the other studios to prevent her from being hired by any of them. She never made another film. That's another glimpse of old Japan.

Another Enchanting and Delectable Family Dish by Yasujiro Ozu on another common family issue.

[SAMTHEBESTEST · 7/10 · 20 April 2021]

Higanbana / Equinox Flower (1958) : Brief Review -

Another Enchanting and Delectable Family Dish by Yasujiro Ozu on another common family issue. Like i always say, in family oriented concepts nobody does it better. Yasuhiro Ozu is the inventor of this school and the one and only Master here. Higanbana is another study material provided by the master on common family issues and just like most of his films, this one unfolds another important chapter for us. The film set in post war period and deals with the issue of parents acceptance and rejection for Love-marriage. In the film, a businessman clashes with his elder daughter over her choice of a husband. It also expresses the changes appearing in human nature or parents nature according to different situations and different objects. The father here can be seen as a jolly guy when he's asked about his daughter having a boyfriend but the same person isn't ready to give a nod when he realises that his daughter actually has a Boyfriend. It doesn't make much sense that way but have a look at it from other side and then it makes very much sense and quite subtle too. When he says that his daughter should've talked to him on it rather than hiding it, we can feel the pain of the father. You see, he as a father didn't ask for much and that's why he makes sense. Anyways, Higanbana has mostly same cast as Ozu's previous films and they all performed same as expected, i mean perfect. The screenplay is slow which takes away all the chances of repeat viewing but as for one time viewing it is worthy enough. Yasujiro Ozu brings full conviction with his typical formula of storytelling and one who understands his crafting would not have anything to complain about. Overall, another excellent family research chapter from the master of this genre.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

A Movie That Never Was.

[net_orders · 2/10 · 19 July 2016]

Viewed on DVD. Restoration = ten (10) stars. To paraphrase an old burger chain ad: Where's the movie? Notable actors are present (Kinuyo Tanaka delivers a particularly poignant wordless performance while the younger actresses tend toward hyper line readings). So are the Director's trademarks including: scene padding; "back acting"; clothes lines; ugly overhead electrical lines to power trains; and static camera. The film score seems just right and is delivered in the right places on the sound track. Cinematography (color) and sound are fine. Subtitles are OK. But the film lacks direction BIG time. The Director conveys to the viewer the impression (rightly or wrongly) of having an astounding lack of interest in most of the scenes he is ostensibly directing as well as the film as a whole! Part of the problem seems to stem from a very weak story line and a lackluster script. Set decoration is minimal. Interior sets look terribly familiar and seem to have been little changed over the past 10 years or so. Skip this one or be prepared to be seriously bored. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

Excellent Ozu

[princebansal1982 · 10/10 · 15 June 2011]

Equinox Flower like many of Ozu's other movies is about generation gap. But Ozu has a different way of showing the generation gap. There is no black or white, but just shades of gray. Even though the parents or the children may be in wrong on some issue, Ozu still wants us to feel sympathy for them. Instead of fights there are slight admonishments and instead of happy reunions there are reconciliations.

A large part of reason for that maybe the Japanese culture in which like many other eastern cultures parents are given more respect. But I think Ozu would have been able to make similar kind of films regardless of which culture he belonged to. This is because his films he films have universal values that strike a chord in everybody.

Equinox Flower is Ozu's first color film. He resisted for long time to film in color. But the result here is very good. It is also a relatively more modern film. Sake has been replaced with whiskey and beer. And the younger generation is more openly defiant. He has made a very judicious use of colors.

What I love most about his most films is the undercurrent of humor that runs throughout. Even though the topic itself is a little soapy, it never feels like that. I always end up smiling at the end of an Ozu film.

Understated and Simple - Yet Emotional and Complex

[Raptorclaw155 · 8/10 · 13 June 2020]

Yasujiro Ozu has a very distinctive style to his films that set him apart from his contemporaries. His films are known for their simplicity and this one is no exception. Ozu manages to revisit a lot of the same themes fairly frequently and yet manages to see them in a different light every time.

Equinox Flower is a film that displays all the hallmarks of Ozu's works - which exist with the end goal of capturing life as closely as possible. What we get, as a result, is a film that tries to immerse the viewer as much as possible and bring them in as part of the world it is creating. As such, the performances are about as true-to-life as possible and the cinematography and editing help make this world feel as immersive as they are.

of course this can be said about most of Ozu's filmography. What makes this particular film great is its integration of the themes related to parenthood within the context of the generational gap. In particular, there are a number of scenes where it is clear that the older generation is old enough to remember what life was like before the war and how they had very little and, in the post war society, worked hard to provide for their children the things they wished they had. Now that the children are coming of age, they are in a completely different cultural landscape than that of their parents and there having to be a reconciliation of those ideas in the most Ozu-way possible.

This film is understated and the drama and comedy match that completely but it works as a recreation of life in that time, especially. It's a slow film which is full of visual and narrative ellipses and finishes off in much the same way as most Ozu films do which makes it a very fulfilling and unique experience.

Needless to say, this is a film I highly recommend.

Sounds familiar, but worth the time, with so many other Ozu titles.

[eminkl · 8/10 · 8 October 2019]

The story isn't too sad or devastating like some of his movies before "Higanbana," but Ozu's first color movie was more of an exercise in the color world and its use in his movies. It's not obvious that this is his first color, because it's being used so well and very meticulously. So is it worth the story? Yes, it's one of Ozu's best movies, although it addresses the age-old story about family life and the father's feeling in his family a bit of an outsider. Sounds familiar, but worth the time, with so many other Ozu titles.

It is easier to be idealistic when the subject has nothing to do with your own life

[frankde-jong · 8/10 · 13 February 2023]

"Equinox flowers" is a typical Ozu film, treating the relation between parents and their children and the modernization of post war Japan.

This time the question is not if a daughter shall marry (as in "Late spring" (1949) and "Early summer" (1951)) but with whom. The two rival methods are arranged marriages and marriages out of love.

The lead character is very modern (marriages out of love) when it concerns the children of others, but far more conservative (arranged marriages) when it concerns his own daughter.

The strong point of the movie is that the lead character is nevertheless quite sympathetic. There is no question of hypocrisy, just of inconsistency prompted by the desire that his daughter marries the best man possible. After all we all know that it is easier to be idealistic when the subject has nothing to do with your own life!

When we learn more about the relationships within the family it becomes clear that inconsistency is sometimes combined with keeping up appearances. The wife may be the boss at home, as long as to the outside world the appearance of the "pater familias" is upheld.

"Equinox flowes" is a film from the latter period of Ozu's career and his first film in color. It is remarkable how well and carefull the color palette has been chosen.

Charming flower

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 24 April 2020]

'Equinox Flower' is such a lovely title for a film, isn't it? Have noticed this with all of Yasujiro Ozu's oeuvre, all of his films having very poetic and appealing titles that makes one want to see the film in question straightaway. On top of that, Ozu was a mighty fine director. One of the best of his generation and a big influence in cinema, while his best films are reasons why foreign films appeal to me so much. His style is a distinctive one that may take patience to get into but it does fascinate.

While not quite one of Ozu's primary masterpieces, 'Equinox Flower' struck me upon watching as a great film and towards the top end when ranking his filmography. It has everything that makes his work so appealing and demonstrative enough of what made him such a great director. The subject and themes are familiar ones for Ozu, being a director that used them a lot in his work, but generally this didn't strike me as a problem because he was near-unparallelled in how he explored them. Hardly any other director really made the subject of family as human, intimate or as emotionally investable as Ozu. 'Equinox Flower' is just one of the examples at how good he was at this.

It takes a bit of time to get going and to the point (even for a director that took a deliberate approach to his stories unfolding the film does feel a little too slow and very slight to begin with), but really do do your best to stick with it. Because it really does become a lot more compelling and throughout it is vintage Ozu all the way.

Ozu's direction as usual is meticulous in its detail and subtle. The first of his films to be shot in colour, 'Equinox Flower' is one of his most beautiful-looking later films, the usual camera techniques are there and as clever and intimate as ever but with the extra benefit of being in lush colour. The music is again nostalgic and sometimes hypnotic, with a playful touch at times that fits the film's tone ideally.

Like a vast majority of his other films, 'Equinox Flower' is beautifully written. There is nothing cold about it, it's poetic in flow, very thoughtful and with a nice playful yet still gentle humour and emotion without being sentimental. The story once it gets going is so human and charming, it is Ozu at perhaps his most playful but the melancholic edge is genuinely poignant and attention to character development and their relationships are remarkably rich in detail and relatable. The acting is typically great, particularly Shin Saburi and Ineka Arima. Both suitably determined but in an understated way.

To conclude, great. 9/10

Nobody Has Arthritis????

[GeoPierpont · 4/10 · 11 January 2016]

I was amazed at the agility of the older actors who sat down with such ease on the floor with no wincing or complaining. How is this possible? Everyone in the US can barely pickup a coin on the floor let alone sit comfortably at a very very low table.

I conjecture the action in this film is very minimal so that all I could think of is how everyone is so healthy even though the men are at a bar drinking most of the time. Was this an accurate depiction of life in Tokyo or thereabouts to express how calm and peaceful the Japanese are after all the horror stories of WWII???

I had to really power through this film as the dialog is very mild and subtle. It is hard to recommend unless this is a fair portrayal of life in the big city and how women were treated like chattel. High Five to the ancients who move with ease, I am impressed with such talent these days.