Ozu Week - Limited Sessions

Limited Sessions

Thursday, October 12 – Wednesday, October 18

For one week only we will be commemorating the life and work of Japanese master filmmaker Yasujirô Ozu. Beginning his career during the era of silent films, Yasujirô Ozu is widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, due to his unique approach to moviemaking, an unmistakable visual style, and the incorporation of timeless themes in his later films such as family and marriage, and especially the relationships between generations. Moving to sound films in the late 1930s, this is where Ozu cemented the ‘master’ filmmaker title with the release of highly acclaimed films, The Only Son (1936), Late Spring (1949), The Munekata Sisters (1950), and Tokyo Story (1953). With more than 50 directorial credits, Yasujirô Ozu has stamped his claim as one of, if not the most important Japanese filmmakers to have ever lived!

Late Spring (1949)

Noriko (Setsuko Hara) is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi (Chishû Ryû), and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa (Haruko Sugimura) convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right. 

The Munekata Sisters (1950)

Setsuko is unhappily married to Mimura, an engineer with no job and a drinking habit. She's always been in love with Hiroshi, but he left for France years ago without proposing. Now he is back and Mariko (Setsuko's sister) tries to reunite them, although secretly she loves him too.

Tokyo Story (1953)

The elderly Shukishi (Chishu Ryu) and his wife, Tomi (Chieko Higashiyama), take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi (Sô Yamamura), a doctor, and their daughter, Shige (Haruko Sugimura), a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko (Setsuko Hara), the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.