A rural widow sends her only son to Tokyo to receive a better education. Years later, she visits him and finds he has become a night school teacher struggling to support his wife and son.
Direction
Ozu's low-angle tatami shots invent visual poetry
Acting
Iida's face contains multitudes of maternal resignation
Writing
Dialogue so spare you'll feel the silences physically
Director
Yasujirō Ozu
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ozu made this during Japan's militarization; its focus on individual family struggle over national duty was quietly radical.
The factory scenes used actual silk workers—Ozu's only 'documentary' touch in an otherwise rigidly controlled aesthetic.
JP
