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Stories of Floating Weeds (A Story of Floating Weeds (1934) / Floating Weeds (1959)) - Criterion Collection

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On Roger Ebert's top ten films of all time list!
One half of perfection
Elegant Simplicity and Perfect Balance of Comedy and Moving Drama
To adapt or not to adapt
Wonderful.

Stories of Floating Weeds (A Story of Floating Weeds (1934) / Floating Weeds (1959)) - Criterion Collection
Starring: Takeshi Sakamoto , Chouko Iida , Koji Mitsui , Rieko Yagumo , and Yoshiko Tsubouchi
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0001GH5RY
Release Date: 2004-04-20

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Providing a unique opportunity for the appreciation of Yasujiro Ozu's signature style, Criterion's definitive double-feature of A Story of Floating Weeds (1934) and Floating Weeds (1959) demonstrates the evolution of a master. Drawing inspiration from the now-obscure 1928 American carnival-troupe drama The Barker, Ozu first made A Story of Floating Weeds as a silent film (despite the advent of sound by that time), and Criterion's DVD features a sublime, newly recorded original score that sounds and feels like it's been part of the film all along. The film itself concerns a traveling Kabuki troupe faced with dramatic revelations as they perform in a rural village: Their master has had a son from a former lover whom he is visiting for the first time in a dozen years. Unaware of his parentage, the now-grown son thinks the visitor is his rarely seen uncle, and the master's mistress, upon discovering her lover's secret family, plots to undermine their relationship by urging a young actress to seduce the son, knowing that this would enrage the master's discreet familial pride. By story's end, all of these central relationships will undergo deep and resonant change.

Ozu was justifiably proud of this meticulous character study, in which his celebrated low-angle style began to assert itself. A quarter-century later, he remade the film as Floating Weeds, retaining the same story and characters, switching the setting to a seaside town, and demonstrating a more casual acceptance of human foibles that makes the 1959 version (Ozu's first film in color) relatively calm and compassionate when contrasted with the more turbulent tone of the '34 silent. Having grown as an artist, Ozu was at his stylistic peak here, having refined his style to the point where all camera movement had given way to flawless refinement of static compositions. These and other comparisons abound in the study of original and remake; to that end, commentaries by preeminent Japanese film expert and dialogue translator Donald Richie (on the '34 film) and film critic Roger Ebert (on Floating Weeds) provide astutely thorough appreciations of the parallel structures, stylistic evolution, and cultural specifics of films that, until the early 1970's, were considered "too Japanese" for an international audience. Never dry or pretentious, their scholarly analyses lend solid, sensitive context to the enjoyment of two of Ozu's most critically and commercially successful films. --Jeff Shannon

Description

In 1959, Yasujiro Ozu remade his 1934 silent classic A Story of Floating Weeds in color with the celebrated cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa (Rashomon, Ugetsu). Setting his later version in a seaside location, Ozu otherwise preserves the details of his elegantly simple plot wherein an aging actor returns to a small town with his troupe and reunites with his former lover and illegitimate son, a scenario that enrages his current mistress and results in heartbreak for all. Together, the films offer a unique glimpse into the evolution of one of cinema's greatest directors. A Story of Floating Weeds reveals Ozu in the midst of developing his mode of expression; Floating Weeds reveals his distinct style at its pinnacle. In each, the director captures the joy and sadness in everyday life.

Customer Reviews:

On Roger Ebert's top ten films of all time list!.......2007-05-03

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.

One half of perfection.......2007-04-27

This two-disc set from Criterion is another marvel - it presents one of Yasujiro Ozu's most beautifully composed color films along with a rarely-seen black & white silent Ozu film on which it was based. The pictures are amazingly sharp and Kazuo Miyagawa's cinematography, though carefully restricted by Ozu, is at last restored to its original greatness. Japanese directors used Agfacolor for their first color efforts, and the effects of age have caused them to fade into some surprising shades.

Despite this, one can be confident that one is looking at the very best possible transfer from the very finest print available. What one cannot, however, be confident of is the commentaries on both discs. I am thankful that Criterion is bringing out a new line of no-frills DVDs, including a volume of late Ozu masterpieces. For "Floating Weeds", however, Criterion made the unfortunate choice of Roger Ebert to provide a commentary. Since I have no stomach at all for Ebert, I had to pass on the commentary. Disc 2, however, features a quite welcome commentary by the foremost critic of Japanese film, Donald Richie.

I sincerely hope that Criterion uses better judgement in assigning commentaries in future.

Elegant Simplicity and Perfect Balance of Comedy and Moving Drama.......2007-04-19

"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.

To adapt or not to adapt.......2007-03-25

The 1934 version is about 90 minutes, and the 1959, in color, about 2 hours.

A traveling troupe comes to town to show their old-fashioned plays. Times have changed and the scarce audience prooves their tastes have too. However, it's hard for long settled habits to adapt. The company will have to break up eventually. In this scenario hangs another story: the manager of the company takes the opportunity to visit his old mistress, with whom he had a son. But the son, now about to go to college, still thinks the old actor is his uncle on another of his visits. This secret, kept for so long by his parents, is going to be revealed by a trick of fate.

I like the color version better. The cinematography is beautiful, the composition and style is typical of Ozu's films. I think this was his first color film. But, in my opinion, it's too long and too slow. In the b&w version it takes the first 10 minutes just to get a hint at what it is all about. The color version is even slower. It goes increscendo in intensity, but too slow. If it hadn't been such a beautiful film (an Ozu film) I would have given up after half an hour. But it finally pays off to be a little patient.

I find the other 3 great Ozu films (Late Spring, Early Summer & Tokyo Story) much more interesting and better overall, though it may be a minority opinion.

Wonderful........2006-12-14

Ugikusa (Yasujiro Ozu, 1951)

Ozu remade his own 1934 masterpiece, Ugikusa Monogatari, in 1959 as Ugikusa, and it's just as good the second time around. An acting troupe who are quickly fading into obscurity come back to the hometown of their leader, Kimajuro Arashi (Kwaidan's Ganjiro Nakamura). The troupe, already on the verge of breaking up, are plunged into drama as Arashi's present mistress, troupe member Sumiko (Thousand Cranes' Machiko Kyo), finds out about Arashi's previous mistress, townsperson Oyoshi (Hiruko Sugimura, who also worked on Kwaidan). Sumiko's jealousy is inflamed, and the plot moves forward.

Ozu and cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa created a visual feast with Ugikusa. Miyagawa was a more than capable replacement for the late Hideo Shigeharas, who'd done the cinematography for the original, and Miyagawa and Ozu use their story-- which is admittedly stock stuff, albeit interesting-- as a frame from which to hang wonderfully arresting scenery. This is an all-out gorgeous film, and whether you end up enjoying the story or not, images from it will stay with you for a long, long time after you've seen it. I found it quite worthwhile, with a stable of interesting characters populating a somewhat predictable story, with the characters ending up being the more important part of the equation. Well worth your time. *** ½

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