Ozu's pessimism is deeply reactionary, and the idiosyncrasy of his methods is more interesting for its exoticism than anything else; but anyone who finds the socio-psychological problems of post-war Japan engaging will find the movie both fascinating and rather moving, simply as evidence.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
70
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Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington
An unusual subject for Ozu, white-collar adultery, handled with his customary deep observation. [28 Jan 2005, p.C2]
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The New Yorker by Richard Brody
Ozu’s despairing view of postwar Japan looks as harshly at blind modernization as it does at decadent tradition.