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Review

Like the majority of his films, Ozu’s Good Morning presents a slice of life portrait of an ordinary Japanese family/community. The setting is 1959 in a Japan that is highly influenced by American culture. The film’s community is filled with gossipy neighbors, bratty children, and lovingly obnoxious drunks. The picket-fenced homes are pressed tightly together encouraging both residents and door to door salesmen to roam freely from unlocked door to door. The film opens with a mystery of sorts regarding the payment of the past month’s dues. The woman who collects them claims to have never received the money, but she did recently purchase a new washing machine thus sparking a series of gossipy conversations amongst the community’s females. The money is eventually found in the hands of the woman’s forgetful mother and the film moves on to another seemingly ordinary dilemma. The Hayashi children desperately want a television like their bohemian neighbors, but their parents refuse. The children strike back by refusing to speak, both at home and in school, which is cause for further scandalous discussion amongst the community. The film continues to unfold in this light manner as loves are revealed, careers are established, and goals are achieved.

Made three years before his final film, Good Morning is somewhat of an oddity in Ozu’s career. The narrative thrust of the film is supplied through the innocent eyes of the Hiyashi children rather than through the wisdom of the elderly that characterized the majority of the director’s earlier works. This same wisdom is brought into question by the elder Hiyashi child who challenges the degree at which adults use idle chitchat for no apparent reason. The film’s title itself reflects this concept of useless greetings as does one of its final scenes in which a couple masks their true feelings for each other behind a long string of meaningless observations about the weather. Ozu also includes a large degree of childlike humor, the most prevalent being an ongoing series of flatulence jokes that culminate in the film’s charming final image. Through these childhood perspectives Ozu is able to look back upon his accomplished career while supplying a valuable counterpoint to the films that shaped his reputation as one of cinema’s greatest talents.

 -- Eric Bresler