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Stories of Floating Weeds (A Story of Floating Weeds / Floating Weeds) (The Criterion Collection)

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If you only buy one Japanese film to add to your DVD collection, let it be an Ozu film and "Floating Weeds" is a wonderful place to start. There's really nothing I can say that isn't absolutely praiseworthy about Ozu and this film. It truly is a masterpiece in every sense of the word.

The Criterion Collection DVD is also a masterpiece, giving us both the original silent "Story of Floating Weeds" and the 1959 remake "Floating Weeds", (both directed by Ozu). The mastering is done well, the sound is great, and the voice-over commentary by famed Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times is a delightful surprise. Ebert humbly acknowledges that there are better Japanese film & culture experts out there, but "does his best" to give a very thorough description of Ozu's very unique style. Needless to say, it's one of the better and more informative commentaries I've heard and Mister Ebert is modest.

The story is genuine, sweet, simple, and believable. The characters are solid and have great depth. Ozu keeps the action and emotions to a realistic level without resorting to over-acting in any of his films. They almost don't feel like films in this way, but feel like intrusions into other peoples lives, but politely so.

Many people have speculated as to Ozu's curious method of placing his camera just below the eye-level of his actors onscreen, and I have my own theory. Perhaps Mr Ozu also has the innocence of children in mind, and is trying to see the world unbiasedly and naively like a child might - from the aproximate eye-level of a child viewing the events happening in the same room as he or she? It's an idea anyway. Perhaps also Ozu wants the camera to look up to his characters as if it is respectfully just below them submissively, as if it is bowing to them all in respect? It's difficult to say for certain, but the look is unique in all of film and once it hooks you, you're hooked for life! You have been warned.

After this wonderful classic, I recommend Ozu's "Tokyo Story" from 1953 (also recently released by the Criterion Collection). Ozu is a great film master and no one could compose a shot like he in all film history. If you haven't, you must see an Ozu film at least once in your lifetime!

Ozu called himself a "tofu dealer" who sold many different kinds of tofu, but never pork cutlets or anything like that. He was a master of variations on a theme, taking simple stories and telling and re-telling them, each time with a subtle difference, a slight bend in light and tone. In this stunning DVD package, we are treated to two servings of the same tofu, with the flavor variation that comes with ageing.

The older film, 1934's silent masterpiece "A Story of Floating Weeds" ("Ukigusa monogatari") was made by a younger man with a younger man's passion and righteousness, and the more modern update, 1959's "Floating Weeds" ("Ukigusa,") longer and in color, shows the mellowing that comes with age, the greater desire to forgive, as we see the same story unfold in the hands of an older version of the same man.

Like the river weed from which the films take their names, the Kabuki actors in both versions float from town to town, going where the course takes them and leaving behind nothing permanent. Long ago, however, one piece of ukigusa, the troupe leader Kihachi, betrayed his nature and left behind something of himself, a son. Now, the course of the river brings Kihachi back to his house of old memories. He is excited, pleased with his son, and briefly considers abandoning his drifting ways to become a true and settled tree. But Kihachi does not float alone, and his leaves and roots are entangled with his Kabuki troupe, including his lover who is determined to keep him drifting.

Like all of Ozu's films, the role of the family is the forefront of "A Story of Floating Weeds/Floating Weeds." In these films, the idea of family is hard to define. Is it the Kabuki troupe, who live, sleep, eat and work together day in and day out, or is it the biological attachment with a son you have rarely met and a woman you never married. Irregardless of the definition, a breakdown is imminent, and only after the pieces have been scattered can we divine the truth.

Individually, either of these films is a treat, but bound together like they are in this Criterion Collection release the bar is raised even higher. A masterpiece of DVD craftsmanship to compliment two masterpiece films. Each film has a commentary track, "A Story of Floating Weeds" by Japanese film grandmaster Donald Richie, who also did the subtitles and provides an insert essay, and "Floating Weeds" by admitted Japanese film novice Roger Ebert. Both commentaries are incredibly insightful and add to the level of appreciation for these films. The new soundtrack for "A Story of Floating Weeds" is sublime, although I have never heard the original so I cannot make a comparison.

Hats off to the Criterion Collection! Now more Ozu, please! Keep them coming, just like this.

Floating weeds is the first Ozu film I have seen in color - it is very interesting to see how this master of black and white decided to utilize colors in a very striking way. The story is, like most Ozu films, very simple - about daily life - and leads, eventually, to a course of dramatic emotional events surrounding a family. It is not nearly as sad as 'Tokyo Story' but makes you reflect just as much. It is also an interesting comment on acting - on and off the stage - as the father in the film pretends he is an uncle to a son who does not know that this traveling actor - is actually his father - who elected to live a travelling life with an acting group - instead of settling down to raise a family.
This is another great criterion dvd - featuring commentary from Roger Ebert - and a beautiful transfer of the movie - and the earlier 1934 version. Ozu is without a doubt one of my personal favorite movie makers.

I have only really discovered Ozu in the three years or so and in my mid-- life it is like entering a bright new world. I have recently watched Floating Weeds for the second time (having ordered it on video). The first time I thought it an unusual film- though not one of his best. I have now completely revised this opinion and consider it a supreme masterpiece. Ozu astonishes with a quiet directness I find moving , completely absorbing and exhilarating to watch. I realize the theatre troup which comes into the town, contstructs its little Kabuki world and then fades into nothing is a perfect vehicle and symbol for what Ozu is consistently portraying in all his little plays: the transient , troubling beauty of the world . The transient troubling little dramas of human relationships. The imagery in all Ozu's films(but somehow epsecially this one) make me see images as I did in childhood : a turned corner on a side street, a scene of a harbor at dusk, a slightly surprised look on the face of middle-aged woman. Many of these movies were filmed when I was a child but I believe there is more than a kind odd 1950's familiarity. There is a kind of direct , unfettered appeal to sensations it is almost difficult to name. Something immediately
innocent and guileless in ourselves. Something always,already seeing and awake. The more I watch Ozu the more I see this and nowhere more than in this film. I kept chuckling at little, scene after little scene. Tiny little nuanced moments I kept rewinding to see if I'd really seen . Anyone who hasn't seen this film: Don't just watch it once.

Sublime heroism in small gestures and difficult moral decisions infuse Yasujiro Ozu's 1959 masterpiece, FLOATING WEEDS (Criterion).

An aging Kabuki actor returns to a small town with his troupe and reunites with his old lover and illegitimate son, an act that enrages the actor's current mistress. In some ways, the story is the flip side of the Prodigal Son parable. Here, a bad dad returns to save his son from the temptations of the corrupt world.

This great humanistic film transcends the time and place of its story. I especially enjoyed Roger Ebert's highly informed commentary. Highest recommendation.

Note: The loaded double disc also includes the original 1934 silent version of Ozu's film with an extraordinary new score by noted silent film composer Donald Sosin.

Yasujiro Ozu's two masterpieces, "Story of Floating Weeds" (1934) and "Floating Weeds," the 1959 remake, are now packaged together, with excellent picture quality, thanks to Criterion. Many times I shake my head at Criterion's more expensive prices, but this was one release that is worth every penny and more. The silent film has a newly composed "score" which I turned off as I found it distracting, as well as a commentary track by Donald Richie. The 1959 talkie has a commentary track by Roger Ebert, who clearly loves the film but is a bit repetitive. I mean, after about the 100th time, we get it: Ozu loves red.

In each movie, the story is the same: a troupe of itinerant actors who travel the countryside performing a kind of low-kabuki variety show. In each, the group's leader (Takeshi Sakamoto in the original, Ganjiro Nakamura in the remake) reconnects with a long-ago lover and meets a now-grown son who knows him only as an "uncle." Enraged, the leader's current lover maliciously pays a lovely young actress in the troupe to seduce the son, thus humiliating the group's leader. However, the young couple fall in love, and the secrets come out, and the result is heartbreak for all.

Although Floating Weeds is a "remake" of the silent version, there are several key differences between the two movies. One is the names. For some reason, Ozu decided to change the names of the characters. This caused confusion when I first watched the films, and I have no idea why Ozu decided to do this. Also, the 1959 version is updated to 1959, post-war Japan. There are some differences in character too. The Master (head of the acting troupe) is slightly younger in the silent version, and his mistress is much more malicious in the silent version. I can't really compare acting, because silent acting technique is so different from "talkie" picture technique, but suffice to say that Ozu draws remarkable performances, across the board, from all his actors and actresses. Particularly poignant are Haruko Sugimara (1959) as the woman with whom the Master had an illegitame son, and Koji Mitsui as the son in the silent film. Machiko Kyo (the wife in 'Rashomon') is a more sympathetic mistress than Reiko Yagumo of the silent film, whose thin mouth curves into a malicious sneer when her scheme is exposed.

The first question to ask: which version is better? If pressed to choose, I'd actually say the silent version. Although it's shorter, less picturesque, and without dialogue, I found that it packed more of an emotional punch. And the difference, I think, is generational. So much of Floating Weeds depends on class. In 1959, the stigma of being the son of an actor, or dating an actress, no longer seems so pungent. The emotions of the 1934 film are more raw, with the final confrontation being so painful that one has to look away. In the 1959 film, Ozu is more contemplative and philosophical. The pace is more leisurely. "C'est la vie," he seems to be saying. Not that the thread of heartbreak isn't there -- it is, but in the silent film the conclusion is more shattering. Also, by 1959, Ozu's famous style -- the fixed, low angle shots, with the occasional shot of a building or a potted plant -- seems a bit stylized. As Roger Ebert notes in the commentary track to the 1959 film, even the moments of violence seem a bit stylized. In 1934, the camera moves more. The movie packs more of an emotional wallop. There's no silver lining to the cloud. In 1959, the final shot seems to indicate, "Life goes on." In 1934, the idenitical shot seems much bleaker, more haunting.

But do not get me wrong. Both films are masterpieces. If the 193 film is more melodramatic, the 1959 film is more filled with humour. The excruciating badness of the acting troupe is more obvious in the 1959 film. And the acting, as I said, is excellent across the boards. I am so glad to have both films now in one collection, where one can compare, contrast, and most of all, marvel at how Ozu manages to find heartbreak in the smallest of moments.

Having seen almost all Ozu films extant,including some of his earliest short silents, I recommend this as one of his supreme accomplishments. Yes, it is off his regular beaten path. His first color film and a somewhat overworked plot, but that is not what you go to an Ozu film for. For some reason this is the only one of his films that I never fail to cry at the start of. I get swept away into another simple and sublime day-to-day world. After seeing it in public once, two women seated behind me said "What was that all about?" Just life, just life.

"A Story of Floating Weeds" (1934) was the second Yasujiro Ozu's film I've seen. Like with "Tokyo Story", I kept asking myself, why the film that was made so many years ago about the people who lived so far away in the world I don't know much about is so wonderfully engaging? Why was I so drawn to the characters of this human drama? The story is simple: an aging, traveling actor who is the manager of a kabuki troupe returns to a remote village where he secretly meets his former lover and her 19 year old illegitimate son, to whom he is known as "uncle." The older man finds happiness in communicating with his son who turned to be a fine young man. His current mistress, filled with jealousy because of his attachment to his secret family, hires a young beautiful girl, the member of a troupe to seduce a boy.

Directed by the great director and humanist with elegant simplicity, genuine interest to his characters and restraint, this moving film is never melodramatic or manipulative.

I liked the music score written specially for the film in 2004. I tried to watch it silent but it would take me more than one viewing to get used to no music score at all.

Seems that Ozu valued the film and thought about it a lot - he himself made a remake in color and sound 25 years later.

"Floating Weeds" (1959)

I wrote this after I saw my first Ozu's film, "Tokyo Story" about a year ago: "As with every great work, the film has its own unique perfection in style, rhythm, details, and artist's vision - but Tokyo Story is very universal in its appeal, simply put, it is for every parent, every son or daughter - for everyone. It was made 50 years ago in Japan, about people who lived far away, but it is also about all of us, our families, our problems, our guilt and our search for love and meaning. Ozu's film does not require one to be a movie buff or to try to solve complex symbolism to appreciate and love it. It brings smiles because it is a comedy (for at least the first 2/3) and sadness with a high drama of the last 1/3 of the film."

I feel absolutely the same about "Floating Weeds". The film is quiet and deceptively simple but its simplicity reminded me the words of Michelangelo Buanorotti. When asked how he created the perfect statues from the shapeless marble lumps, he answered, "It is very simple, you just cut off all unnecessary pieces".

Ozu's films are perfect - they touch us with rare warmth, soft enveloping tenderness and power of human emotions not necessarily with striking visual or sound effects. "Floating Weeds" is a beautiful color film and it is the first color Ozu's film for me. The colors are bright and fresh, tender and kind - they match the director's style perfectly. The delightful music by Kojun Saito reminds me of Nina Rota music in Fellini's films - nostalgic, innocent and rhythmic.

The Criterion dvd does a great job and the transfer looks amazing. The movie is about a traveling group of actors who arrive in a small seaport town in south of Japan. The leader of the group Komajuro Arashi goes to visit his ex girlfriend and their son Kiyoshi, however kiyoshi believes Komajuro is his uncle. The lead actress Sumiko finds out he is visiting his ex and becomes jealous, in order to humiliate him she persuades a young actress in the group Kayo to seduce his son.
This movie plays like music, the actors are real with real emotions and even though it is in another country at another time anyone could identify with these characters.
The director Yasujiro Ozu has his own unique style unlike that of any movie i've seen. His camera does not follow the characters, each shot is like a painting that moves and breathes. Ozu also directed Tokyo story another in Roger Eberts great movie books and also on Time magazine's top 100 of all time, i haven't seen it but i will now and alot more of Ozu's work i'm sure.
A movie like this i really cant even explain why i love it, i just do, it's the type of movie that sticks with you and seeps into your subconcious. It's like you were there and actively experienced the movie, as if it became one of your own memories.
I'd recommend this movie to anyone that really loves film, not to someone that just watches to pass time or be temporarily entertained with special effects,(which i also enjoy at times) i'm glad i saw and continue to see movies like this in my late twenties if i saw this 10 years ago i wouldn't have got it or appreciated it.

FLOATING WEEDS, both the 1934 silent and the colorful 1959 talkie, aren't the type of movie I normally seek out. Even though I watch a fair number of both silent and foreign movies, I usually lean heavily towards action movies. Quiet, contemplative, character-driven movies - classic or not - aren't automatically appealing. To put it another way, I wasn't much interested in watching the story of an itinerant kabuki troupe, an abandoned son and deserted mother. Classic or not, I didn't care how many recommendation engines pushed these films my way. Until now I've been pushing back.

More fool me. Entranced doesn't begin to describe my reaction to both of them. And, even though both commentary tracks did an admirable job of breaking down director Yasujiro Ozu's technique and history - Ozu biographer Donald Richie on the silent version, ubiquitous film critic Roger Ebert on the talkie - I can't yet say why I suddenly have two new favorite movies. As I've learned, thanks to the helpful c-tracks, Ozu was a `simple' director, who simply didn't use a whole lot of the tricks of the trade. No tracking shots, no panning, the camera is a neutral eye in his hands, about three feet off the ground, catching an artfully framed set for the actors to move about and sometimes hide in. The story suits the visual style - in both films the acting is understated, the melodramatic potentials not exploited.

If I had to choose, though, I think I preferred the silent movie. Ebert mentions (often enough) Ozu's use of color in FLOATING WEEDS, especially the many shades of red. The screen is indeed vibrant with colors, but I felt that worked a bit against the story. Ozu, wisely, doesn't stage things so that he'll influence our judgment of his characters or their actions. The story is open to interpretation, and I interpret as a bit of a tragedy. The bright colors, for me, clashed somewhat with the mood. Plus, the silent movie allows the mother to be a little more prominent, and although the acting style is naturalistic enough, the expressions of alternating joy and despair on her face tell us more than any number of spoken words could. Like Richie asides on his c-track, actors of today could learn a lot from good silent actors.

It's a false choice, though. Both of these movies are five star material on their own, and the opportunity to compare both is a joy. The transfer prints for both are in very good shape - the '34 version having a scratchy stretch or two. Highest recommendation for this set.