Many directors explore the same themes throughout their work, but few have done so as obviously asYasujiro Ozu.
What Is Yasujiro Ozu’s ‘Floating Weeds’ About?
Ganjiro Nakamurastars as Komajuro, the leader of a traveling theater troupe visiting a seaside Japanese village.
Image via Mubi
Yasujiro Ozu’s masterpiece is a potent, profound study of family life.
These story beats mirror those inA Story of Floating Weedspractically beat-for-beat.
“If people want something else, they should go to the restaurants and shops.
Image via Daiei Film
Yet as evidenced byA Story of Floating WeedsandFloating Weeds,his ability to make tofu improved over time.
His compositions are generally low to the ground, the camera sitting on the floor alongside his characters.
His famous use of narrative ellipses – i.e.
merely speaking of major plot events as opposed to dramatizing them – was more pronounced.
Ozu’s use of vibrant technicolor and music gives the film a cheerfulness and nostalgia lacking in its predecessor.
Floating Weedsis available to watch on Max in the U.S.
The head of a Japanese theatre troupe returns to a small coastal town where he left a son who thinks he is his uncle, and tries to make up for the lost time, but his current mistress grows jealous.
