Floating Weeds (Japan, 1959)

A troupe of travelling players arrive at a small seaport in the south of Japan. Komajuro Arashi, the aging master of the troupe, goes to visit his old flame Oyoshi and their son Kiyoshi, even though Kiyoshi believes Komajuro is his uncle. The leading actress Sumiko is jealous and so, in order to humiliate the master, persuades the younger actress Kayo to seduce Kiyoshi.

Legendary director Yasujiro Ozu decided to make a remake of his own A Story of Floating Weeds (1934), and the fruit of that production was this fantastic film which is one of his most outstanding works. It's a well-told drama that slowly unfold itself, the kind of movie Ozu was a master of. With an exquisite color palette, Yasujiro Ozu portrays life in the most realistic and respectful way possible. There isn't much about the way Ozu shoots his films that hasn't been said, but one can at least join in on the vast amount of praise given to him. The restorations of his films absolutely makes the colors glow and give that Hitchcock technicolor (Eastmancolor here) look, and objects you didn't think could ever be important makes scenes much more rememberable. You're never as much aware of the sets as you are with Ozu, given the care he took when filming his actors.

A wonder of human drama and skill in moviemaking, Floating Weeds is the film you return to when it feels as if modern directors have forgotten how to make this kind of quality. 

Genre: Drama