The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Made a year before "Tokyo Story" this is a social satire on life in Japan.Its not the greatest Ozu film ever made but you will find yourself well rewarded if you watch it. It has all of the trademarks of Ozus style with a softer, upbeat ending. There are a couple of interesting interviews on the disk but sadly no commentary. If you love Ozu then you have probably bought this already!

not quite to standards of Ozu during this period to Tokyo Story and Late Spring, but never the less a nice time to be spent following these characters.

Good!

What is _The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice_ (1952) about? If you’ve seen other films by Yasujiro Ozu, I’m sure you can guess. Marriage. The generation gap. Ozu’s work is like a spiral: we keep coming back to the same place, but at different levels. In this little-known film, the great Japanese filmmaker looks at binaries: male/female, old/young, urban/rural. Ultimately, however, the question the film raises is: to what extent can we claim to know a person, when all we see of them is the facet they show us depending on the circumstances?Mokichi and Taeko Satake’s marriage is lukewarm at best. As the film begins, Taeko lies to her husband in order to go to a hot spring with her girlfriends. Mokichi is not better at keeping his wife informed of his plans. A Tokyo woman, Taeko finds fault with Mokichi’s Nagano ways. Must he pour soup over rice, for instance? Setsuko, the Satakes’ niece, is the visitor who becomes the catalyst for the couple’s troubles. The twenty-one-year-old woman, for her part, dreads the prospect of an arranged marriage. Another subplot involves Non-chan, Mokichi’s younger coworker, to whom the older man is a mentor/father figure.One of the reasons why _The Flavor…_ hasn’t received as much recognition as other Ozu films is that it is lighter in tone when compared to, say, _Late Spring_ or _An Autumn Afternoon_. It is more akin to _Good Morning_, and of course, to the other film included in the Criterion edition, _What Did the Lady Forget?_, which is in fact an embryo version of _The Flavor…_. (One scene in particular, in which Mokichi scolds his niece as a performance for his wife, is recycled from the older film.) Even infidelity is treated lightly in _The Flavor…_. When the women see the husband of one of them with another woman, they admire the latter’s beauty. When asked if she is angry, the wife replies, “Of course not. […] I’ll make him buy me something.” The light tone, however, does not exclude serious consideration of the big themes. Even Non-chan, a relatively minor character shows great insight when he says that in marriage “love comes later.” He even mentions God, something quite rare in an Ozu film. The film’s key scene, which shows the preparation of a meal and a conversation over it, is incredibly simple and incredibly profound.Unlike the “typical” Ozu film, _The Flavor..._ features numerous exterior shots. Movement is also important here. Urban scenes. Crowds in the street, at a baseball game, and at a velodrome. A pachinko parlor (the owner of which is played by… the ageless Chishu Ryu!). Even shots from a moving train. Look out also for the interior tracking shots, something that Ozu would eventually discard as he continued to reduce his cinematic style to the bare essentials.The acting is worthy of the big names involved. Mokichi is played by Shin Saburi, who worked with Ozu in _There Was a Father_ (1942), _Equinox Flower_ (1958), and _Late Autumn_ (1960). Michiyo Kogure, who plays Taeko, also worked with Kurosawa (_Drunken Angel_) and Mizoguchi (_A Geisha_, _Street of Shame_). Other familiar faces are Kuniko Miyake (_Late Spring_, _Tokyo Story_, _An Autumn Afternoon_, to mention only the most famous Ozu films she appears in) and Chikage Awashima, who appeared in Kobayashi’s _The Human Condition_ and Ichikawa’s _An Actor’s Revenge_ (both 1959). Keiko Tsushima (Setsuko) had a part in Kurosawa’s _Seven Samurai_ (1954), and in the beautiful and underrated _Sincere Heart_ (1953), by Kobayashi.The Criterion release features a pristine image and a few extras:* _What Did the Lady Forget?_ (71 minutes): a 1937 film that shares many elements with _The Flavor…_. In this film, the niece is much more “liberated” than Setsuko, but she also causes trouble to arise in her uncle and aunt’s marriage. What makes this film interesting, since it will inevitably be judged in comparison to the later movie, are the differences between the two. The uncle, for instance, is a doctor and professor in the earlier film, which also features children, like other early Ozu works (_I Was Born, But…_, _Record of a Tenement Gentleman_). As a curiosity, this film features an act of physical violence. It is, so far, the only one I have seen in an Ozu film. The relationship between this film and _The Flavor…_ is very similar to the one that unites the two _Floating Weeds_ movies.* _Ozu & Noda_ (16 minutes): explores the collaboration between the director and the scriptwriter. Their methods are described, and illustrated with examples from major films such as _Tokyo Story_ and _An Autumn Afternoon_. Inspiring. It makes one wish for the kind of artistic relationship depicted.* The Gift to Be Simple (25 minutes): a video essay by David Bordwell that focuses on the concepts of satire and sympathy. The film critic traces these two elements in Ozu’s career and looks closely at their combination in _The Flavor…_. A masterful, detailed reading of the film. I especially enjoyed Bordwell’s interpretation of camera movement in _The Flavor…_.* Acquired Tastes: essay by Junji Yoshida. In this excellent text, the scholar discusses the development of the story from _What Did the Lady Forget?_ to _The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice_, mentioning also a wartime idea that never materialized. Yoshida focuses on class issues and the notion of social mobility._The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice_ appeared the year before _Tokyo Story_. This may be another reason why the former has not received much recognition. _Tokyo Story_ is generally considered to be one of Ozu’s masterpieces, but this film is one of the director’s most dramatic works. In a sense, _The Flavor…_ is more representative of Ozu’s poetics. I will not deny that I prefer _Tokyo Story_, but I urge you to watch _The Flavor…_. Like Kurosawa’s _Scandal_, it is one of those “unknown” pieces one quickly comes to love and admire.My next Ozu film will be one of his early ones, as I have now seen virtually all the films he made in the 40s, 50s, and 60s.Thanks for reading, and enjoy the film(s)!

Ozu made the most human of films dealing with marriage, loneliness and love that it seems a number of modern film makers e.g; Wayne Wang, have tried to copy but no one has ever mastered Ozu's deft touch or ability to go deep and not seem preachy. A master Japanese director whose 'touch' is sadly missed today.

Very simple and yet a sensitive portrayal, loved the story and acting.