A Story Of Floating Weeds

A Story of Floating Weeds (Ukikusa Monogatari) (1934)

Runtime: 86 minutes

Directed by: Yasujiro Ozu

Starring: Takeshi Sakamoto, Choko Iida, Koji Mitsui, Rieko Yagumo, Yoshiko Tsubouchi

From: Shochiku Company

This is a review of a "serious" movie for me, as Ozu is a legendary director and this is the first picture I had ever seen from him. It is a quality motion picture. I explain it all in my Letterboxd review below:

On this site and others I have heard plenty of praise for the work of the late Yasujiro Ozu, yet this is the first film of his that I've seen. I have no real excuse as many of his films (including this one) were released in the United States by the Criterion Collection and I used to have Hulu Plus, where a good amount of their catalog was available for streaming. This was on Turner Classic Movies last night and I figured it was the right time to see it.

The plot concerns a traveling kabuki act who ends up in a town where the boss has an old mistress and an illegitimate son; the son believes that man is an unofficial uncle, having no idea of the truth. The current mistress finds out and after an argument she devises quite the cruel bit of revenge. I don't want to reveal more than those specifics. In general, it was definitely an interesting movie where the life of a low-level performer in that act was shown to be pretty difficult, where you didn't know how long you'd last in a town and a few days of rain-which causes problems as they perform outdoors-can cause a lot of havoc. It doesn't excuse some of the boss's actions but it does explain his general grumpy mood.

I won't get all nerdy and talk about the technical aspects of the movie, except that it's really well-done by Ozu and just from one silent I can see why he has so many fans. The fact that it's not “a talkie” is fine, as sometimes watching the facial expressions or how someone acted said more than hearing dialogue or seeing the intertitles. It's a compelling story, and also a melancholy at best one, as difficult decisions have to be made and the story is more complex than it sounds and the characters that are focused on, they are all pretty rich and interesting. Despite it not being a cheery picture, it certainly was persuasive and while it takes its time, it is never boring. You do feel bad for the characters and the predicament they are in, but at least for some of them there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

Sometime in the future I'll watch Ozu's remake of this, 1959's Floating Weeds. I should also check out some of his other work considering it is so highly regarded.