Product Details

• Actors: Chishû Ryû, Shima Iwashita, Keiji Sada, Mariko Okada, Teruo Yoshida
• Directors: Yasujirô Ozu
• Writers: Yasujirô Ozu, Kôgo Noda
• Producers: Shizuo Yamanouchi
• Format: Color, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: Japanese
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: New Yorker Video
• VHS Release Date: November 11, 1998
• Run Time: 112 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302263921
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #304,221 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Deceptively breezy, Yasujiro Ozu's final film, made in 1962, is the lovely culmination of the mysterious writer-director's fascination with family, and the social mechanisms by which different generations fulfill obligations to one another and to themselves. The central character, Shuhei Hirayama (Chishu Ryu, Ozu's longtime collaborator), is a 60-ish executive and widower who slowly grows concerned that his 24-year-old daughter, Michiko (Shima Iwashita), has not married because she feels responsible for taking care of him at home. Taciturn, low-key, but affable, Shuhei is a hard man to read. But through his friendships, habits, daily reminders of his past and fear that he might rob his daughter of her youth, Shuhei gradually comes to terms with his responsibility to see Michiko fulfilled and happy. There is also more to it than that: An Autumn Afternoon is also about Shuhei turning a page in his small part in history, the closing chapters of a life that involved military service during World War II and settling into post-war, largely Westernized Japan. These things are all understated, but Ozu gives every character a shape, a recognition that one must play the cards one is dealt without self-deception. With that comes a certain Zen serenity, humor and perhaps melancholy, but in An Autumn Afternoon's spirit of acceptance, a bittersweet life is a good life. Special features on this Criterion release include trailers and excerpts from a French television special about Ozu. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sublime Swan Song, December 15, 1999

By 

Rajesh Balkrishnan (Winston-Salem, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Autumn Afternoon [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Ozu's final masterpiece is a such a wonderful way to end one of the most distinguished careers in filmmaking. Chisu Ryu is once again superb as a lonely widower trying to grapple with giving away his only daughter in marriage. Although the film runs the gamut of familiar Ozu themes, you never ever tire of the Ozu trick of a "good two hours spent with your neighbors". His beauty of filmmaking, which is drenched in simple joys of everyday living makes him one of the greatest humanists of world cinema, along with Ray and Renoir. Put simply, this film is "stunning visual poetry". This is an absolute "must have" for all you Ozu fans out there, and recommended for all lovers of world cinema.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ordinary people, extraordinary film-making, June 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: An Autumn Afternoon [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Some have called director Yasujiro Ozu the poet of the everyday. Most of his films deal with ordinary people leading ordinary lives. But what is not so ordinary is Ozu's ability to capture the essence of human relations. His characters seem so real to us, because they are reflections of ourselves and the people we know. In Ozu's final film, Samma No Aji (which literally means "the taste of mackerel"), a widower knows his only daughter must eventually leave home and marry. We watch, as he tries to deal with his growing sense of isolation and loneliness. He becomes nostalgic for the good ol' days. He hangs out at a bar run by a woman who reminds him of his late wife. A popular World War Two song, Gunkan Machi (Warship March) pervades the film. In contrast to this, his married son and daughter-in-law represent the new Japan. They are more concerned about material things like golf clubs and new appliances. There are sad moments in this film, but funny ones as well. One of my favorite scenes takes place in the bar. The widower, who was a naval officer during the war, and a former shipmate are talking. The shipmate says if Japan had won the war, American women would now be wearing geisha-like wigs and chewing gum while playing the shamisen (a Japanese musical instrument). There is no melodrama in this movie, just an honest portrayal of family life and human relations. And it's that honesty that makes watching an Ozu film such a memorable experience.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ozu's Final Masterpiece, October 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: An Autumn Afternoon [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I love Ozu's films. He seems to be one of the few directors to create a style that his and his alone. He seemed to be having a good time with this one - developing humor between many of his characters - the businessman and the old war veteran at the bar. His characteristic still life images are wonderful as well, even plying an occasional trick on the viewer. I love this film - and I hop you get a chance to see it