The End of Summer (1961) User Reviews

Three weddings and a funeral

[GyatsoLa · 9/10 · 19 April 2008]

This is classic Ozu, a small slice of life, a crucial turning point in the history of a family fighting the inevitable progress of time and change. In this case it is a family consisting of a widower, clearly someone with a racy past, and his four children - a somewhat dim son, two dutiful older daughters, and a sharp tongued younger daughter, outraged that her father is determined to age disgracefully. He (played by the impish Ganjiro Nakamura) is sneaking off from his duties at his struggling sake brewery to meet an old flame. His eldest daughter, in true later Ozu style is reluctant to accept the hand of an apparently decent suitor. His second daughter is torn between the 'good' match and her true love, an impoverished academic.

Ozu's penultimate film, and perhaps this is reading too much into it, but its hard not to see his vision of his own impending death in it, despite the great humour in it.

This is a meditation on a dying world - despite the vibrant photography, the film resonates with images of passing - constant visions of graveyards, an old dying Japan, the families roots in a dying form of business as they are overtaken by big, highly capitalised larger companies. The ending is sad and inevitable, but not tragic - life does go on, and a new generation wills step in, even if the old traditions are not maintained.

One striking thing about this film is the incredible photography. Have humble domestic interiors every looked so stunningly beautiful? The lighting is luminous, every scene is as perfectly composed as a Vermeer painting.

The Gang Is All Here

[crossbow0106 · 9/10 · 4 February 2008]

The End Of Summer is another Ozu film about making a love connection, but this time there are multiple characters involved. One of the Ozu twists is the great Ganjiro Nakamura, who plays the father. He is trying to marry off his three daughters while he is visiting an old flame. One of the daughters is played by Yoko Tsukasa, who movingly played Setsuko Hara's daughter in the equally absorbing Late Autumn. Here, Mr. Nakamura provides the film's comedy, an old man looking for some action from a former mistress. However, this film is not really a comedy. Its a story about life events, the changes in ones personal destiny. Its hot in the movie, since a few characters fan themselves, hence the title. Not quite as good as Tokyo Story, Late Spring or Late Autumn, but that is such a tall order, I don't feel anything but admiration for this film. One great thing about this film is that many actors in prior Ozu films are here, making it almost an ensemble piece. I would have liked more of Setsuko Hara's character, but just seeing her in a film is worth anything. This film also works almost like a play, little stories molded together into one film. Worth your time and, as it was Ozu's penultimate film, its practically required viewing.

Japanese comedy-drama...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 10 February 2023]

... from writer-director Yasujiro Ozu. An elderly sake company owner (Ganjiro Nakamura) worries his extended family when his health falters and his financial choices come into question.

Ozu returns to familiar territory, including marrying off unwed relatives, familial obligations balanced against personal fulfillment, and the simple pleasures of domestic life. It all looks nice, each shot meticulously composed, and with added attention to ambient sound effects, like the sound of crickets chirping in the afternoon. Ozu only directed one film after this, 1962's An Autumn Afternoon, before dying in 1963 at age 60. His frequent star, and a major Japanese film fixture of the post-war years, Setsuko Hara, would also only appear in one more film, 1962's Chushingura. She lived in retirement another 53 years, passing away in 2015 at the age of 95.

Kohayagawa-ke no aki (1961)

[SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain · 10/10 · 28 April 2005]

Yasujiro Ozu is, without a single doubt in my mind, in the top five directors of all time. Possibly the second best after my personal favourite Akira Kurosawa. Many may credit my preference due to the fact that Kurosawa was considered as the most Western of all Japanese directors. However Ozu came from the same time and his films are very different but just as good. Ozu's films have the most simple of plots, in that they do not have a strict or interesting storyline. This can sometimes lead to extremely complex situations as Ozu focuses on the trials of Japanese family life. If you are looking for films about real life, and real people, then look no further than Ozu. Like other Ozu films there are arranged marriages, and relationships that cross through all generations. A father is distracted from troubling finance issues by a recently rekindled affair from nineteen years previously. The film is very subtle in its extraction of emotions, Ozu's trademark of not moving the camera once, with completely still shots. Ozu also doesn't use flashbacks, resulting in people simply talking and describing the past. The editing is restrained to simple straight cuts, and no fancy transitions are used. It is this simplicity that some may find boring, or a lack of pacing. For me however it is great to see a master of the craft not give in to unnecessary techniques when the acting and slightly faded picturesque cinematography does all the talking. Dialogue between characters is both intriguing and thought provoking. The final funeral scenes really do demonstrate the beauty of Ozu's films, when we see a couple of complete strangers talk about the recent passing, as we are then treated to a magnificent shot of the funeral procession walking down a bridge. Like 'Tokyo Story' and 'Early Summer', 'The End of Summer' is a thoughtful and delicate piece of work, and also a fine example of Ozu's rare use of colour.

Ozu's growing penchant for death.

[bobsgrock · 19 December 2012]

The penultimate film in his astonishing oeuvre, Yasujiro Ozu's story about an aging widower and his relationship with his three very different daughters has a strong sense of death throughout, contradicted with some of the most gorgeous cinematography available in cinema. Ozu's typical minimalist and economical visual style are quite conducive to realizing this theme, showing how even the most beautiful and poetic elements of life eventually run their course, as does everything in this life.

The main crux of the story rests on the patriarch of the family, Manbei, who continues to see a woman he knew while he was married, a notion which naturally upsets at least one of his daughters. The other two seem more pensive about the situation, leading them to contemplate their own lives as the eldest is widowed herself and debating whether or not to remarry while the youngest is wondering who she should marry. It is worth noting how Ozu portrays the elder generation as being more open to passion and vigorous living than the younger. The conclusion seems to be that despite the inevitability of death, how one lives one's life determines how they will be remembered rather than who they were perceived to be. Though death remains ever-important, it cannot and should not prevent one from attempting to live to the fullest possible existence.

Baloney!

[titus213 · 10/10 · 11 December 2004]

It is a bunch of baloney to say that END OF SUMMER is far behind Ozu's other efforts. I have seen most if not all of Ozu's most acclaimed works, and END OF SUMMER is the best one I've ever seen. It even surpasses TOKYO STORY, which many scholars claim is Ozu's best masterpiece, one of the greatest movies of all time. For my money, END OF SUMMER is one of the top five foreign movies of all time. The beautiful photography is sublime; the movie contains some of the funniest things in any Ozu movie; and the ending is one of the most heartbreaking, most superbly visualized endings ever put on celluloid! I just can't say enough good things about this movie. There may be another Ozu movie I haven't seen that surpasses this one, but I sincerely doubt there's more than one, if there's even one.

"It's the cycle of life"

[nickenchuggets · 7/10 · 29 September 2021]

With the exception of Godzilla, I don't think japanese movies are talked about in the west as much as they should be. The End of Summer is a unique (if slow-moving) story that illustrates how asian movies differ from american ones. When I say that, I mean there is not very much (if any) action going on in this film, and the story is very simple. Despite how straightforward the writers designed it to be, the movie does have a good moral lesson that only comes into focus when it's almost over. This movie is about a man named Manbei who owns a rice wine company in the city of Kyoto. Manbei's daughter, Akiko, is not yet married, and he wants to change that. One of Manbei's friends is tasked with finding her a date, and thanks to his efforts, she is able to meet Isomura. Now that his daughter is in a relationship, Manbei feels content, so he takes it upon himself to be rewarded. He starts sneaking out of his house in order to talk with his old girlfriend named Sasaki. Sasaki has a daughter named Yuriko, whose parentage is clouded in mystery. Some suspect she's Manbei's child, but he can't prove it. Meanwhile, Manbei's other daughter Fumiko gets angry at her father after learning he's been sneaking around. Eventually, Manbei is home one day and appears to have suffered a heart attack, but lives. While playing hide and seek with one of his relatives one day, Manbei sneaks out again, and this time, a second heart attack puts him down for good. Everything is sad, and some people fishing at a river near where a crematorium is located comment "nobody died today" since there's no smoke coming from its chimney. At the end of the film, there is smoke, indicating that Manbei's body is being burned. It might not be a very energetic or memorable film, but The End of Summer gives viewers a chance to see the things in life that matter most for what they really are. Nobody will live forever, so the characters in the movie (and real people) have to try and enjoy themselves as much as they can. The movie is also sad because Manbei's brewing company is absorbed by a bigger company after he dies. There isn't much else to say other than that it felt right to watch this right when summer was ending. Sometimes you need to see a depressing and downbeat film like this to make you appreciate things more. This movie was also put out by Toho, the same company responsible for Godzilla. Nice touch.

Love in the New Japan

[maryszd · 10/10 · 29 July 2010]

This beautiful, haunting film takes place at the end of a hot Japanese summer that, as one of the characters puts it, "refuses to end." The mournful sound of cicadas accompanies the series of tableaux about the scion of the Namakura family, a whimsical widower who continues to see the mistress who caused his late wife and currently cause his three daughters a lot of sorrow. The film is about the impracticality and unpredictability of love in opposition to a rigid social order. Two of Namakura's daughters share their father's ambivalence about marriage. The older daughter, herself a widow, hesitates to re-marry. Although she embraces traditional values, she treasures her life "as it is," and values the freedom she now has as a single woman. Another daughter prefers to marry for love, rather than go with the dull, practical man her family has chosen for her. Only one daughter has a traditional marriage, but she's the most angry and outspoken to her father about his mistress. The film is also about the contrasts between the old and, "New Japan," the English words written on a flashing neon sign glimpsed on an anonymous city street. Despite his eccentricities, Namakura was a good businessman who kept the family sake business afloat; he could straddle both the old and new worlds. This is a physically gorgeous film, filled with humble domestic scenes that radiate the light of Vermeer and Dutch genre paintings. Ozu shows tremendous respect for women and the humble work they do--washing, sewing, cooking. It's work that is usually unseen and under-appreciated, so it's a pleasure to see it honored here.

Very good, but also a tad plodding...

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 6 September 2009]

This is the second to last film of the famed Japanese director, Ozu. In many ways, it's typical of his work, such as the non-moving camera (using cuts instead of moving the stationary camera or zooming--things he never did) that is positioned slightly below the actors chests as well as the stories being about very ordinary people. Ozu loved stories where typical people dealt with transitions, aging and modern live in Japan. However, unlike most of the other films I have seen (and I've watched quite a few), the characters in THE END OF SUMMER ("Kohayagawa-ke no aki") are seemingly less noble and more difficult to like. While flawed characters are certainly NOT unusual in an Ozu film, not connecting with them is unusual--and I assume most watching the film will have a harder time making that connection with the people in the film.

The film is about an older man (probably about 65 or so) who owns a small sake brewery. His wife has died several years prior and he has three daughters and a son. Two of the daughters live with him (one is a widow, the other never has married) and the issue that concerns them is marriage. The widow is rather ambivalent about a recent marriage proposal--she's content to live with her father along with her son. The other is less content but does not want to marry the man the family has picked for her.

The third daughter seems really, really concerned about her father and I was unable to determine if she lived with him or not--but she sure was bothered by her father, as he's been secretly visiting his old mistress. Considering that this damaged her parents' marriage years before, it is understandable about the daughter's misgivings--though considering that the mother has been dead for some time, her worrying does seem a bit excessive. However, it's not completely unwarranted, as the mistress and particularly her daughter are very materialistic and nasty. As for the son, he's pretty much out of the picture throughout the film. You know that he works for the family business but otherwise he stays out of the intrigues.

This conflict between the older man and his mistress as well as his daughters' possible marriages is an interesting situation and is rather reminiscent of the film EAT, DRINK, MAN, WOMAN---though THE END OF SUMMER is frankly much less interesting and enjoyable. In fact, that is a problem for the film. While very well made (especially the acting) and in some ways interesting, the film just plods along very, very slowly and never really grabs your attention. It certainly isn't a bad film but never seems to make the most of the interesting situation. And, the ending, seems awfully depressing--needlessly so. I know that die-hard Ozu fans won't be able to believe I only gave the film a 6 (I'd prefer to make it 6.5, but can't). It's just that compared to all the other terrific films he made, this one is a disappointment and a "lesser" film. For more satisfying Ozu, try AN AUTUMN TALE (his next film). either version of FLOATING WEEDS or LATE SPRING (my personal favorite).

One of Ozu's best films - and that is saying something

[Andy-296 · 10/10 · 10 August 2008]

Ozu's penultimate film is also one of his best. As in many of his movies, the theme here deals with the dynamics of a traditional Japanese family. The aging patriarch of a family has to deal with marrying his two grown daughters (one is divorced with child, the great Setsuko Hara), the financial problems facing his small sake producing business, the reunion with his long lost lover and their capricious daughter and, last but not least, his impending death. The death theme hangs throughout the movie; Ozu was probably thinking of his own death when he filmed this (he would live only a couple of years more); the last shot has black crows standing over the patriarch's gravestone. Ozu's films in color are even better than those in black and white: his famous sense of composition shines even better. Besides, I love color films from the late 1950s and early 1960s period, perhaps because they show us what society look like before the great disruption of the late 60s (this is not personal nostalgia, since I wasn't even born then). Overall, one of Ozu's best films.

Far behind Ozu's other films

[maerte · 7/10 · 10 September 1999]

This film is a little bit disappointing. Ozu did not portrait human emotions as intensive as in "Tokyo Monogatari". Neither has the film the wit and humour of "Ohayo". He did not succeed to characterize the person as good as in other films. The setting of the action in Kyoto instead of Tokyo could have provided the possibility to represent the contrast the conflict between old Japan and "New Japan" in a more distinct way. But unfortunately Ozu produces some cliches. But after all what is a "bad" movie by Ozu in comparison to all the other stuff.

Unique among Ozu's works, to say the least

[Disfear · 10/10 · 28 July 2010]

Of the Ozu films I've seen this one seems to stand out the most; there isn't a single shot of a train, only the sound of distant ones passing. There are attempts at arranging marriages, for a young woman and for a widow, but neither come to fruition. He almost throws a curve ball so to speak, since at the beginning of the film you're given the impression that it's going to be about two widows getting' the hook up, but then it turns out to be more of a study on the widowed father of the Kohayagawa family. There's also one more thing I've yet to have seen in an Ozu film, as far as I can remember: a dead person on screen, usually we're entering the stories of these people's lives after someone has croaked. Definitely the most bittersweet of the Ozu films I've seen thus far, there are moments of genuinely touching comedy and also a few moments of blatant commentary on the modernization of the Japanese woman at the time, with the one daughter whose only regret after her "father" dies is that she doesn't get the mink stole she wanted, not to mention she's going out with a new American guy every other day.

Same Old, Same Old.

[net_orders · 6/10 · 19 July 2016]

Viewed on DVD. Restoration = ten (10) stars. The many similarities (repeatedly deployed in most of the director's prior films) presented yet again in this movie may have provided a sense of stability for audiences confronting dynamic societal changes in the 1960's. All the actors you have seen (or will see) again and again as the director continued to turn out a DE FACTO TV series consisting of about one episode/movie per season/year. The producers and director seem to be counting on the viewer's curiosity as to what these fine and well-known actors are now up to for generating box-office traffic. If the film had been cast with relative unknowns, it would likely have tanked (or never been made). With so many characters crammed into this movie (it may have set a record at the time for the number of cameo appearances), it is a bit of a mystery as to who is related to whom and in what way in an expanded family consisting of 3/4 generations. Not until close to the end can the viewer be absolutely certain. The usual "back acting" (i.e., scenes filmed of the actor's back instead of from the front) frequently occurs. Train whistles are patently phony: electric-powered trains are made to sound like steam engines (the trains are never seen). Many exterior shots (or variations thereof) you have seen (and/or will see again) in other films from this director. The same interior sets from many of the director's previous movies are used once more. Cinematography (color) is fine (but the narrow-screen aspect ratio is still used). Some editing cuts are a bit jagged. Dialog, for the most part, is understandable. Subtitles sometimes flash by too quickly and can be too long. Film score blends in nicely except for the chanting prior to and during the death scenes which seems overdone. Familiarity may have bred comfort 55 years ago, but today it borders on boredom. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

Typical Ozu

[kokkinoskitrinosmple · 3/10 · 3 April 2024]

The End of Summer is in many ways a typical Yasujiro Ozu movie. This includes both his trademark visual style, the fine balance between comedy and tragedy and the exploration of his favourite themes such as family, marriage, generational conflict, aging, the contrast between modern and traditional, etc.

However, there was someting missing in this one. It's not perfectly clear what it is, but it probably has to do with the characters. There's too many of them, so they don't get the necessary screen time to form a bond with the audience. As a result, they don't come off as interesting or engaging and this makes it harder for the viewer to shake off the feeling that he has already watched another similar but better variation of this movie, leading to a rather dull outcome.

Is there anyone like Ozu?

[Tashtago · 9 August 2011]

I've come to think that Ozu is the most original of all directors post silent era. The End of Summer is just another example of how Ozu manages to make a compelling film out of the most mundane of plots. This also one of the funnier Ozu movies. The early scene of Akiko's meeting with a potential suitor is handled with great light comedic touches (the nose signal). Ozu's signatures are all here: the static camera shots,shooting actors from behind, sudden jumps in timeline, and of course great acting. I can't think of a director who is more instantly recognizable not just for technique but also plot and dialogue. There is only one Ozu and this is one of his best, right up there with :

Late Spring, Tokyo Story, Early Spring, and Tokyo Twilight

ozu's colour masterpiece

[postcefalu · 10/10 · 11 April 2006]

After his second experience with colour, a light, happy "Ohayo", secretly epic and impressed, Ozu shot one of the milestones of his career: "Kohayagawa-ke no aki" is in my recollection, with "Banshun" and "Munakata shimai", his best work. Most of the themes exposed in previous films (father's intervention in his daughters' lifes, love (in the hands of others), solitude) are here integrated in a comedy-structured film that becomes a drama. It's perhaps his unique melodrama and it is shown with the desperate of the last breath for some characters, as usual in Ozu, doubtful and seeking a place for their quiet happiness.

There is no Ozu film nearest Sirk's or Minneli's universe like this one.

nope

[treywillwest · 9/10 · 17 February 2018]

Western viewers want to find a stoical impulse in Ozu's world view, but I think a certain orientalism is at play in this. Surely this "genius from the east" must be telling us something... transcendental and wise! In fact, I think the two most constant themes in Ozu's films are the momentary joys of life, and the suffering that comes with the loss of loved ones, either to death, the demands of modernity, or some conspiracy between the two. Those two topics seem stripped particularly bare in this late work, a short one by the standards of the director. Ozu's longer films, particularly Tokyo Story, might literally be chamber dramas, but in their breadth of subject and number of characters they have an epic quality- a kaleidoscopic depiction of post-war Japanese society. This film, by comparison, truly is a chamber drama with a relatively tight focus on one central figure and those around him. The characters aren't meant to comment about anything but themselves, and their joys and sorrows are laid all the more bare.

Same old Ozu trick with the only innovation that Wedding and Funeral are brought together for the first time.

[SAMTHEBESTEST · 7/10 · 17 February 2021]

Kohayagawa ke no aki / The End Of Summer (1961) : Brief Review -

Same old Ozu trick with the only innovation that Wedding and Funeral are brought together for the first time. The End Of Summer has more characteristics than any other Ozu film and is also more angular. The family of an older man who runs a small sake brewery become concerned with his finances and his health after they discover him visiting an old mistress from his youth. It was obvious to see not a single character getting proper attention cause the quantity was high and the screen space was less. May be if you look from the other side, it seems more fun to see so many characters are brought together with simple and small small problems of their lives because the ultimate goal of it was to connect it to our lives. Like all other Ozu Films this one has kindness and amusing narrative with the climax being quite linked to horrible fact like Death. We don't see this often that two completely opposite sides Wedding and Funeral are mixed together in one narrative and so quickly. Ozu had this master trick gone fine irrespective of how ridiculous it may look at the first time, it gradually becomes intelligent later. The last scene where he has used the reference of Smoke coming out up there from Crematorium was so damn good. Talking about the acting, all the artists are in fine form throughout the film with exceptional varieties. Background score, screenplay, cinematography, dialogues are nice. I would have loved to see little more aggression in the script though. Ozu could have melted emotions better like he did with earlier Classics and then The End Of Summer would have became a non-problematic film. Nevertheless, Yasujiro Ozu has made it on his own par level with his masterful skills and those who love and understand his films can't deny this fact, no matter how hard you try.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest

Excellent

[Cosmoeticadotcom · 8/10 · 12 January 2012]

When an artist has reached a level of such high art that he and his work can be spoken of as being in the top tier of his art form something terrible happens: often brilliant but not quite ineffably so, work, in its own right, is looked upon with a lesser eye by critics and audiences alike. Not that this is not a natural development, for once treated to fancy cuisine, even a good steak can seem a comedown to most palates, but it is a frustrating development, for sometimes quality is overlooked, or dismissed because it is merely an 8 of 10, rather than a perfect 10. Such is the case concerning the critical reception of Yasujiro Ozu's 1961 film The End Of Summer (Kohayagawa-ke No Aki, or, literally, The Fall Of The Kohayagawa Family).

In fairness, and to be up front, it simply is not an unassailably great film, like his great Noriko Trilogy films (Late Spring, Early Summer, Tokyo Story) are, but it is an excellent film, in its own right, which knows when to not let a scene play out, and which, at 103 minutes, never goes on too long itself. And sometimes there is a small thing in a film that serves as a fractal for the larger film. In the case of The End Of Summer it is the appearance of a character named Noriko, but one not played by the great actress Setsuko Hara- who played the Noriko characters in the earlier trilogy. perhaps it was some god of cinema's karmic hand, but the fact that Hara is called Akiko shows how just slightly off from greatness this whole film is. Another thing that augurs the slight fall from grace of this film is its musical score by Toshiro Mayuzumi. Whereas all aspects of the earlier film were in perfect harmony, Mayuzumi's score is often light and comic in inappropriate moments. When it is needed to be comic it serves well, but a listener almost feels like the scorer fell asleep during editing, and let the same whimsical tunes play on too long her, or too much in places it should not be at all.

The acting is stellar. Ganjiro Nakamura, who was so great in Ozu's Floating Weeds (1959), is a delight to watch. Hara, as the widowed daughter, brings an ineffable grace to her role, even if it is a familiar one. The rest of the family's portrayers also have their moments to shine, including some terrific cameos from one of Ozu's great regulars, Chishu Ryu, as one of the peasants commenting on the old man's death, Haruko Sugimura, another regular, as Manbei's sister Katou- although this time in a cheerier role, and even Manbei's grandson, Fumiko's son, Masao (Masahiko Shimazu, who played the devilish little Isamu in Good Morning), has a memorable sequence where he plays games with the old man.

The DVD is part of The Criterion Collection's third affordable Eclipse Series called Late Ozu, and also includes Early Spring, Equinox Flower, Late Autumn, and Tokyo Twilight, but has no extra features, save a small essay on the inside of the DVD case. The film is shown in the original 1.33:1 aspect ration and is stunningly transferred. The subtitles are in black and white, which works better against color films, but Criterion really needs to get their act together on subtitles and English dubbed soundtracks. And while I understand the desire to get affordable versions of films out there, are a few extras really going to break the bank? I mean, even a trailer and five or ten minute Making Of featurette is de rigueur in even B film DVD releases these days.

Nonetheless, this is a film that gets a hardy recommendation. Is it the best that the Master ever offered? No. Has it familiar elements? Yes. Does it have a few moments that clunk, which would not have made the cut in his masterpieces? Yes. But it is still a fabulous film, leagues above 99.9% or more of films ever made, and one that shows that even the simplest and seemingly most banal material, in the hands of a great artist, can make one laugh and cry, and sometimes do both at once. The End Of Summer may have come at the end of its main character's and creator's lives, but it shows that Yasujiro Ozu was still fertile creatively, and his untimely and early death impoverished the world, art in general, and cinema of a voice and eye that centuries hence will still have relevance. Not bad for a second tier work of art, eh?

Left Elbow Index

[eldino33 · 8/10 · 25 December 2009]

"Kohayagawa-ke no aki" reveals a spectacular display of color and form that only a true master of art can achieve. Yasujiro Ozu has outdone even himself in this regard. One can easily get lost in one scene after another and forget that a film is playing. It is a though one is in an art gallery of cultural art which happens of be that of Japan. Monet attempted to imitate the impressionistic art of Japan during his lifetime in the 19th century, as can be seen in his own collection. The trend seems reversed in the 20th century, with Ozu using the techniques of American and European hard-edge expressionist. The results are stunning, infinity better than his earlier works. The same scenes in black and white in 1956 are presented in 1963 with vivid complementary and contrasting color. Barrels against a wall are no longer just gray shades but brown tubs with white rims and adjacent white umbrellas and buildings. There are dozens of other equally impressive combinations. The most spectacular scenes are those without actors or minimal acting. But after all, this is a movie so one has acting and dialogue. Moving hand fans dominate many scenes to an almost hypnotic end. The striking neon sign of the NEW JAPAN presages the future. The Left Elbow Index considers film from seven perspectives--acting, production sets, artistry, character development, film continuity, plot and dialogue--with a rating of 10 for very good, 5 for average, and 1 for needs help. The sets, the artistry, and the plot are rated very good. The plots are intriguing: to marry or not, East vs West, and cultural change. The acting is average due to the fixed photo technique and the talking head approach. Dialogue is appropriate. However, character development and film continuity seem submerged in the attention to color and form. The LEI average rating is 6.0, with a full point more given for Ozu's quantum leap into a new world of color, resulting in a 7.0, or above average, equal to an 8 on the IMDb scale. If one is serious about film history, this movie is essential to understanding trends. I strongly recommend this film. Just sit back and enjoy one tableau after another. You may find your jaw dropping in wonder and awe.

"With so many captains, this ship will end up in the mountains."

[kurosawakira · 10/10 · 31 December 2015]

Perfection perfection perfection! This is the penultimate film by the one filmmaker that somehow always continues to amaze me and reassert the power cinema has. It's like reading a haiku by Bashô, or a poem by Merwin. Something made in a different time and place, yet still so strongly present in the here and now.

Regardless of the pervasive and thoroughly Ozuesque marriage dealings, this film is really about death. Its imminence, immutability. Its invisibility. The comedy, of which there's plenty, is balanced and ultimately cancelled out by what unfolds, and the final funeral procession is worthy of Welles' "Othello" (1952) in its bleak finality, and that smoke from the crematorium is among the darkest and most beautiful metaphors in all of Ozu — our life vanishes with our body either into the ground, or as is appropriate in the Japanese culture, into thin air. It vanishes. For a moment a kind of an emblem of it lingers in the air, and then even that token is gone.

And as only Ozu can, there's always the comic undersong, no matter how dark the waters we're treading. (This works both ways, mind!) The past is on its way out, the present is colliding with the future. It's the old paterfamilias who's growing into a child again, rekindling an old flame, failing to act his age at the gate of death, and it's the daughter who tells him off (the brother all tight-lipped and spooked about mentioning it, failing to step up. As is often the case, the females are perfectly capable of coping not their own, thank you very much.

I think Ozu's impact is the strongest when I'm away from him for a while. Then I get used to other ways of seeing things, yet when I go back to him the effect is stupendous: how he frames a shot of a doorway, a train station, of what seems to be the most "insignificant" transitory shot between scenes is beyond words. But it's always in that which many of us find "insignificant" where he finds a whole new universe waiting to be explored, and cherished. The beauty of his cinema is why I love film. It's the great friendship that lasts.

Seeing as the BFI are either incapable or unwilling to complete their Ozu project and might not actually have the rights to this film anyway, and now that Criterion have pushed from the mainline into the Eclipse, I wonder when we might see a decent Blu-ray of this wonderful film.

Transience of Life

[ilpohirvonen · 9/10 · 5 May 2011]

The international translation for Yasujirô Ozu's second last film is usually either Early Autumn or The End of Summer but its original title would actually be "the autumn of Kohayagawa family". Family and its changes were themes that characterized all the films by Ozu; he often portrayed the collision of different generations as well as the change of habitat and family structure. The End of Summer is a story about a family whose company has been manufacturing rice wine for generations. The head of the family is getting older, and therefore moving aside from the business, while the economic competition coerces the family to consider about joining a bigger corporation. This is one symptom of the transition. The other is being fought on a personal level, inside the family.

The sisters have their contradictory aspirations and marital worries but, together with their mother, they frown upon their father who, during his later years, visits an old lover of his. During one of his trips, he gets a heart attack; summer ends, both season and generation change. At the father's funeral the visitors cross a bridge to a new era. When the smoke of the older generation rises from the pipe of the crematorium, the new generation continues leading their lives in their own ways. This beautiful poetic sequence relays an emotion of personal loss and the continuous cycle of life -- the sudden beauty and transience of life. During the funeral the true, essential values crystallize as does the inevitability of change. To this nostalgia of the old world Ozu adds a little optimism when the youngest daughter decides to go to seek a path of her own.

There is something extremely interesting in the cinematography and use of static camera in the films by Ozu. He often lands the camera down, to the ground. Ground, earth and mud are important for Japanese people and, the first association which this camera work occurs, is the fact that Japanese people eat on the floor. But it's also an ideological choice; looking at the world from the perspective of a child. It's a moral approach which becomes an aesthetic fact, and it adds deep meaning and a lot of heart to this beautiful film. However, it's not just the cinematography in the visual aesthetics that captivate us but the use of colors, and the precise consideration of 'mise-en-scene'. I am on the verge of sinking to an aesthetic tumult while admiring the world of colors in The End of Summer, the exotic colors that are strange and unfamiliar to us occidentals.

These kind of warm and touching films about family, Ozu made during his entire career. In addition to this particular intimate family story, the film talks more widely about cultural transition, and in its visual aesthetics Japanese tradition meets western popular culture: advertisements, neon lights and cultural behavior of the west infiltrate to the Japanese landscape. Traditional outfits turn into western clothes and the children try to attain independent solutions, on their own, without consulting their parents who they've seen as their masters for decades. Coca-cola, baseball and American soldiers tell about globalization and this vast cultural transition, which is inevitable. In the midst of depicting this harsh transition Ozu achieves to keep his heart-warming tolerance -- he never points the finger at us -- but also his bitter and intelligent irony.

Images

[fa-oy · 9/10 · 28 November 2011]

Even though I had promised myself I wouldn't make more reviews for any Ozu's work (if you like his style, you'll probably like all of his works), I just obviously can't seem to contain myself, as I think Ozu deserves more praise and recognition.

The family Kohayagawa are preparing themselves to marry one of the family members, Noriko, the youngest daughter, while her sister Akiko, widowed with two children, receives a marriage proposition by a man who is socially and economically well – placed. The family patriarch, however, has a curious behavior. He constantly visits his former lover Tsune, behavior for which his daughter Fumiko reproaches him. The old man suffers from a sudden heart attack, though, which leads Fumiko to not reproach him anymore.

You may have noticed this is yet another Ozu's film based on family matters. Indeed, it seemed to me this was sort of a rehash of his former efforts because he repeats many of his old dramatic scenes. Although if you are only reviewing that aspect of the film you would be missing the point, as I think this is yet the most beautifully shot and image – based film in his entire filmography. I found myself contemplating every single frame of the many surprisingly shot scenes, even though the plot didn't get me all that hooked. The amazing colors all around the film also help enhance the beauty of its content.

Regarding the acting, I would just have to mention it is incredible and fitting to what's being portrayed (as usual in Ozu's films). However,one thing that always surprises me is the appearance of Chishi Ryu in all of Ozu's films; whether it is a complete appearance or just one or two simple scenes in the whole film, he's always there. We can see him almost at the end of the film standing by a lake next to a woman that seems to be his wife, beholding a chimney which expels the ashes of the deceased father of the Kohayagawa family.

This film might be a tad weak on the plot side, but on the technical and image side is much stronger and worth watching.

My score: 9/10

A good story and an interesting view into Japanese culture

[markmaguire-23275 · 8/10 · 27 December 2022]

This is my first introduction to an Ozu movie. I see that other reviewers have described it as a comedy, but I didn't have that impression at all. Maybe I was in a somber mood. It was a good story, with some spurts of mild comedy, but surprisingly I found myself focusing on the cultural information that was coming through. Barely two decades. After WW2, I was amazed at the westernization of the characters in their dress, at least the business people, and their drinking bar room scenes. I experienced it myself in a brief Tokyo business trip in the 1980s.

I was really thrilled to see the home style living conditions so pristine and neat. I always wonder how there can be no clutter in these Japanese homes. It certainly is inspirational on how to maintain a beautiful living space. I was fascinated by the meek walking style and beautiful outfits and clothing of the women, and the home rituals and traditions, from bathing to dining to sharing a drink cup to the respectful caring for the aging father. The wooden-block walking sandals (outdoor) made an impression on me too . As a fun and interesting aside, I noticed a smooth and athletic move of transitioning from a sitting kneeling position and bouncing up to a standing position. I'm going to practice that.

Such a strong and intelligent culture, circa 1965. It shows a very interesting mix of Japanese tradition and newer western influence. I wonder how realistic it was in the movie, compared to real life at that time.

Another aspect of the film was the actors looking directly into the camera, as if talking directly to me! That tactic was used a lot but not exclusively. I really enjoyed it.

Culturally it was also interesting to see the married daughter, Fumiko, who lives with the father, ordering him around and trying to enforce discipline. I didn't think that was well tolerated by the patriarch of Japanese families.

All of the actors were so beautiful and handsome but I have to say daughter Fumiko (Michiyo Aratama) was jaw-dropping arresting, especially when she looked directly into the camera and seemed to talk to me!

Another reviewer suggested that beginner Ozu watchers should see Tokyo Story, and also Floating Weeds. I'll do that.

High emotions in Summer

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 24 April 2020]

'The End of Summer' is most notable for being Yasujiro Ozu's, second only to Akira Kurosawa as far as the best Japanese directors go, penultimate film. The man had an astonishing career that would have been longer than it if he hadn't died too young (don't consider 60 old you see), with an immediately recognisable visual and directing style and one of not many directors to have in my view a bad film among his later work. All being very good to masterpiece.

In my opinion, 'The End of Summer' is one of Ozu's best and one of his most accessible. It may be slight and familiar, but this is a case of that not mattering (though it did matter in a few of his other films where the stories were even slighter and not quite as absorbing) when the characterisation is so rich, the wide range of emotions so varied and how beautifully written it is. To me, the pace was not a problem, it's deliberate as is the case with all Ozu but the characterisations and emotions help never make 'The End of Summer' dull.

Visually, 'The End of Summer' looks great. Loved the delicate use of colour, the case in all of Ozu's six colour films, as well as the simplicity of the photography. Which as ever added so much to the intimacy of the atmosphere and the drama, the still look of the shots being somehow transfixing to watch and the constant height of the angles don't look too limited. If it resorted to being overly-cinematic or gimmicky visually, the mood would have been ruined.

Ozu directs with his usual refinement and understatement, in a way that has never alienated. The music score has some playfulness but also a lush delicacy and nostalgia. The writing is layered and perceptive, with bursts of genuinely funny gentle comedy, thought-provoking commentary that never gets heavy-handed and movingly tender drama. The scenes between the two sisters, one of the most beautifully done sister relationships for any film in my opinion, are very poignant.

Story always engages and entertains and moves too, loved its tactful handling of universal and still relevant themes and subject and do it with such humanity and relatability. One expects that from Ozu, with him being one of the masters of understanding the human condition, because the characters are more than just cliches and such but feel like real people in situations that will resonate with all. If potentially sounding like a broken record, it is hard not to when all of this can be found in much of Ozu's work even when he was not at his very peak. Cannot fault the acting either, with a fair share of familiar faces from being regulars in Ozu's films (Setsuko Hara being the most familiar of them).

All in all, wonderful penultimate film and one of my favourites from a master director. 10/10