It was Baby Anne's book, her first and only full-length novel to date. The text is pure but exudes a sense of loneliness. Her books always have those poignant women with gloomy eyes and sad smiles. They can never capture their own happiness. Those words penetrate into the heart like flowing water, wrapping the helpless soul in the lonely night.
Later, it was Ozu's film, "The Flower of the Other Side" in 1958. It's just that Ozu's film is completely different from Annie's book, the same pure and clean. Behind it is Ozu's forbearance and infinite longing for life.
The story unfolds slowly in Ozu's poetic lens. A friend's daughter is married. So everyone thought of their daughter, "Yeah, it's time to get married." So the fathers began to worry about it. Hirayama's eldest daughter, Setsuko, has reached such an age this year. Hirayama said that she wanted to find someone for her. His younger sister, Hisako, said that she should not let her father find a partner, and she could find someone she likes to marry. Dad said, that's good, and don't worry about it. It's just about Setsuko~. Hisako said maybe her sister already has a boyfriend. Dad said it would be fine. Hisako smiled and said, that's not it. I am worried without you, and I am worried with you. In Ozu's films, you see the contradictions of the characters, so close to life.
My friend Mikami didn't come to the wedding a few days ago, and it was only for the sake of their children that the two met later. Mikami's daughter, Fumiko, ran away from home despite her father's objections and married a man in a band, and now works at a hotel called Luna. Mikami was very worried, after all, she was her own child, and she didn't want to see her suffer. Said that Sasaki from Kyoto was coming, and he was talking about the daughter who should be married. In those days, the daughter's marriage became Hirayama's biggest heart disease.
A few days later, a man named Taniguchi came to propose marriage and said that he was going to marry Setsuko, and Hirayama was very angry. I thought that my daughter, who had worked so hard to raise her, would agree to such a thing without her permission, and she became furious. The matter of marriage has become very interesting for this man. The marriage of the three daughters expressed their different opinions in the mouth of Hirayama, and said to Miss Sachiko of the Sasaki family that as long as she likes it and thinks that they can be responsible for each other, she does not need the consent of her mother, but for the same situation Setsuko, he couldn't say the same thing so calmly. Father, I think a father sees his daughter getting married with such a contradictory mentality. Because of love, he cannot face it.
The daughters formed an alliance, and with the help of Sachiko, Hirayama confusedly agreed to Setsuko's marriage, only to realize that it was a trap set by Sachiko. There is no alternative, Setsuko always wants to marry, even if he doesn't like it, he can't change it. But in order to maintain his opposition, Hirayama said nothing to go to the ceremony, which made Setsuko very sad. Sometimes the turn of events is so simple and humorous that Hirayama ended up going to the ceremony, not smiling but already a victory for the women in the family.
The ceremony was over, and everything went back to normal. Hirayama and the others attended the class reunion in junior high school. After the situation changed, their friends were also troubled by various trivial matters in their own lives. Hirayama asked Mikami if he had seen Wenzi, Mikami said yes, after all, he was his own child, and there was nothing he could not forgive. Hirayama seems to have a feeling. On the way back, he went to Sachiko's house, and with the help of Sachiko's mother and daughter, decided to go to Hiroshima to see Setsuko. Now, father and daughter can be as harmonious as ever.
Ozu's films have strict requirements on equipment and pictures, the film looks bright and lively, and the dialogue is handled just right. He interprets the warmth and sincerity of the parents in an ordinary family. Ozu's films are full of wit and humor. At the beginning of the film, the station staff's conversation about the bride's evaluation, the friend's teasing about having a boy and a girl while drinking, and the seemingly incessant dialogue, make the story oozing fragrance in the bland.
Setsuko's mother should be a highlight in the film, this traditional Japanese woman under the feudal bondage looks real and tall in front of Hirayama, who thinks she is open and democratic. Her love and support for her daughter, who is pursuing happiness, is evident in the film. During the family outing in the film, she said that although she did not like war, she felt happy when the whole family was in a bomb shelter. A woman's happiness, but her husband can not understand. It cannot be said that it is not sad, and I think it is also the reason why she supports her daughter so much in her own way. Hirayama said that there is no love between them like young people. This is so sad.
The love and affection are sincerely revealed in Ozu's lens. You are used to seeing Annie's pompousness, and perhaps you can find another kind of tranquility in Ozu's film language.
"At the end of life, tears or dew are shedding."
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