An Autumn Afternoon: Ozu's Farewell

Life seems to stop for me when I watch a film by Yasujiro Ozu, the hubbub of the world turns off and it becomes quiet, reflective, and peaceful. Yasujiro Ozu is a filmmaker I hold in great regard, perhaps more than any other director, and I felt a bit of sadness when I viewed for the first time his final movie "An Autumn Afternoon". Criterion has been very good in releasing many Ozu films and very quickly I might add. It was only three years ago I first saw "Tokyo Story" and I can say without a doubt it is one of the few movies that changed my life. My appreciation for Ozu has only grown these past few years, though his films may seem similar in story and theme, Ozu approaches each very differently. Ozu didn't realize "An Autumn Afternoon" would be his last film, but it was a perfect note to end on. The story's main focus is a father who feels the need to marry off his young daughter who is coming to the age of marriage. The father is reluctant and he only agrees to marry her off after pressure from his friends.

But really the film takes its time to get to the momentous occasion, Ozu concentrates like he does in all of his films on the characters, and creates little vignettes about the people (no matter how unimportant) in the film. Another big difference in this marriage themed film is how Ozu shows us the down side of not marrying off the daughter. In other films like "Late Spring" we feel it was a pity the daughter had to leave her father who she loved dearly, but in "An Autumn Afternoon" we see a father who is now full of regret for not marrying off his daughter, now she is middle aged and left with no prospects, and we know she will be alone when her father dies. The film has its lighter moments but ultimately it is about loneliness and coming to an acceptance about it, the finale was quite touching and of course Ozu was a master of his craft by this point, no false steps were made, it sums up what Ozu cinema was all about, one year later Ozu would die on his birthday of cancer, but his work has remained.