Late Spring (1949) / Late Autumn (1960)

Directed by Yasujiro Ozu

Late Spring (1949)

Late Autumn (1960)

Ozu revisits his own work with Late Autumn (1960)—recalling Late Spring (1949)—and puts his muse Setsuko Hara at the heart of both.  She plays the daughter in 1949 and the widowed mother in 1960.  Both plots are similar, with the daughter in each film not wanting to marry and leave their widowed parent alone (a father played by Chishû Ryû in Spring and a mother played by Setsuko Hara in Autumn).  While Late Spring is generally more regarded of the two, it’s the storytelling and structure of Late Autumn that feels like it continues to open and bloom.

Here's some links to a trailer for Late Autumn and a fan-made montage from Late Spring.

Both films can be streamed in HD using Hulu Plus along with other works by Ozu. How to get a free month.

If you have Netflix, you can stream Tokyo Story (one of my top ten movies that should be in my top ten list but is not).

Film reviews in fifty words, a new series (2011); times two, one hundred words for two films.

After Life (1998)

Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda

A documentary-style film about people at a waiting station for the dead (social services-like offices) and its employees. There, they have to choose a single memory that they will take with them to eternity. Sounds impossible? Not if you’re Japanese-filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, and you make one of cinema’s true miracles.

50-word film reviews from 2006.