Directed by Yasujiro Ozu • 1931 • Japan
Combining three prevalent genres of the day, the student comedy, the salaryman film, and the domestic drama, Ozu created this warmhearted family comedy, and demonstrated that he was truly coming into his own as a cinema craftsman. The setup is simple: Low wage-earning dad Okajima is depending on his bonus, and so are his wife and children, yet payday doesn't exactly go as planned. Exquisite and economical, Ozu's film alternates between brilliantly mounted comic sequences and heartrending working-class realities.
Up Next in Directed by Yasujiro Ozu
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I Was Born, But . . .
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu • 1932 • Japan
One of Ozu's most popular films, I WAS BORN, BUT . . . is a blithe portrait of the financial and psychological toils of one family, as told from the rascally point of view of a couple of stubborn little boys. For two brothers, the daily struggles of bullie...
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Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth?
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu • 1932 • Japan
Starring Ureo Egawa, Kinuyo Tanaka, Tatsuo SaitoIn the late 1920s and early 1930s, Yasujiro Ozu made a string of comedies dealing with student life, the last of which, WHERE NOW ARE THE DREAMS OF YOUTH?, finds the director exploring increasingly complex t...
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Dragnet Girl
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu • 1933 • Japan
This formally accomplished and psychologically complex gangster tale pivots on the growing attraction between Joji, a hardened career criminal, and Kazuko, the sweet-natured older sister of a newly initiated young hoodlum, a relationship that provokes the ...