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Rating: Ozu is a name that, if you've ever had anything to do with Japanese cinema, sooner or later pops up. It's a bit like he's a cult character, a sort of Haruki Murakami of the camera – or at least that's how I imagine him. Someone who has his own way of doing things, of describing them, and of telling you about them.
So it happens that this name has been circling around me for quite a while, and a few days ago, driven by a hidden curiosity (and thanks to the friends at Raiplay – greetings to them), I finally approached this film. Good Morning. Which also seems like a nice and polite way to start watching one of his movies; basically, all this preamble just to say that it's the first Ozu film I've ever watched, so don't expect a rich retrospective (not that my reviews have ever been that, anyway XD).
It's a film that makes you laugh. It manages to be as profound as it is silly. It kneads together simple gags, which work brilliantly within the small residential micro-universe where the protagonists live.
As usual, there is a story, but in my opinion, it’s just a simple pretext to depict an expanding Tokyo, or rather one in the process of modernization; not just economically but also in habits and ways of relating.
Even the film's title, a polite way of saying hello, is seen in opposite ways by children and parents—the former see it as a useless mask for a detached, insincere politeness, while the latter treat it almost as a necessary filler for both personal and impersonal relationships, a way of communicating to avoid truly communicating (I know, that's a bit convoluted).
One of the main focuses of the film is to bring into sharp relief precisely that difficult-to-explain distance. For example, the children imperatively choose – as a form of protest over not having a TV – not to communicate, highlighting not only a generational gap but also an emotional one that separates them from their parents. This stoicism then leads them to create particularly embarrassing situations for the whole neighborhood.
Providing a counterpoint to the muteness of the two young protagonists are the chattering and gossip among the neighbors; there's a particular scene about paying a fee that lays bare, in an almost childish way, a banal yet everyday social paradox.
Indeed, gossiping is (with the exception of a couple of characters) almost the only form of dialogue in the film. Ozu emphasizes this, and as mentioned earlier, sets it in contrast to the children's attitude.
Another noteworthy detail is the TV, which is the 'cause' of the film but also its resolution. The TV becomes a symbol of Westernization, of materialism. At the beginning of the film, the children watch TV at the neighbors’, against their mother's wishes, who eventually forbids them from this ‘luxury.’ The children—in protest—take a vow of silence, until the father decides to buy them a television, a moment that puts an end to all the tensions that have built up throughout the film. *
The final maniacal detail that Ozu includes are the gags in which the kids compete, in a silly yet challenging game, to see who can fart the most. At first glance, this detail seems irrelevant, but besides lightening the comedy, it further highlights the difference in behavior between generations—the rigid and impenetrable seriousness of adults versus the shameless and spontaneous naivety of the little ones.
A movie that, in 2025 (today’s date), should be watched with moderate patience since its pacing is that of a film over 70 years old, but it's not hard to contextualize it to the present day by simply changing the objects and people.
Or maybe I haven’t understood anything at all and the film should be read in an entirely different way, negating the sense of everything I wrote above. In other words, as one gigantic and brilliant advertisement for television.
In any case, my habit is now well established. In any situation, when someone says Good morning to me, I always respond in exactly the same way.
Let’s hope.
*Usually, I don’t like including the plot in my reviews. In fact, in the beginning I wrote how it was almost irrelevant, but I ended up writing it anyway.
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