This is the second Ozu
film I have reviewed. I really enjoy watching Japanese Art Cinema from the
period after the war. I have watched many films by Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro
Ozu, and Ugetsu by Mizzoguchi, which I have reviewed for this blog. Perhaps in
another blog I will comment on who is the best film director from this period
of Japanese Art Cinema. Certainly, Japan carried the torch of great cinema
productions in world Cinema after the decline of Italian neo-realist Cinema.
(Sklar)
The film seems to be typical Ozu. A melodramatic film
about a Japanese family hiding a secret, until a scorned lover forces a
confrontation and revelation of the secret. The film begins simply enough in a
small town. A theatre troupe is visting and will perform. The lead actor,
however, has gone to visit his former mistress; who has a child. We learn
through dialogue that the actor is the adolescent’s father. Yet, he is posing
as his uncle. He spends time with the boy. They go fishing and play games with
each other. Everything seems peaceful. This is about thirty minutes into the
film.
Then, the kabuki master’s current girlfriend drops in on
the actor with his former mistress. She makes a scene and the actor and the
current girlfriend argue about what he is doing there with the older woman.
Later on, the young actress pays off her friend to seduce the young boy. This
occurs in what is a great scene. Two Japanese actresses sitting side by side,
putting on make-up, preparing for to go on stage, and discussing how one of
them will seduce the young boy. The seductress takes the money from the other
girl. In the next scene we see the young actress showing up at the post office
to seduce the young boy. Her charms could not be resisted and the boy falls
hard for her. He takes leave from his job and they spend all their time
together. Eventually he finds out that she was paid to seduce him. But, she,
apparently has fallen for him.
In the climax of the film the young boy and young actress
show up at the older woman’s house, presumably to declare that they are getting
married. The older woman and older actor think she has told him that he is his
father. An argument ensues and the older actor slaps the young actress and
calls her a slut. He then begins to slap the young boy. The young boy pushes
his father down. Emotionally upset, he runs upstairs. The old actor leaves to
return to the road and the life of an itinerant actor.
I thought Floating Weeds was a very good melodramatic
film. Similar to another Ozu film Tokyo Story. Yet, Tokyo Story has a more
visceral emotional impact, the death of the mother and the conflict between
modernity, urban living and respect for tradition and traditional ways of life.
There is no larger theme in Floating Weeds. It is one of humiliation of the
actor. He is embarrassed about his status as an itinerant actor. He is ashamed
that he cannot be a better father. He is ashamed of who he is.
Another film that I think draws a comparison is Arthur
Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Both have a secret that is revealed in the end
and both end with the humiliation of the male lead. Yet, again, Floating Weeds
doesn’t have that powerful of an ending. The father simply leaves like he has
done in the past and returns to the road
The editing style is simple. A lot of shots from a
distance within the house. No extreme close-ups but angles on characters when
they are talking. There are several establishing shots of a light house. The
camera doesn’t move so much. In terms of lighting, Ozu makes use of it in the
critical scene where the boy falls in love with the actress sent to seduce him.
The teenage boy is seen standing in the dark. Perhaps to symbolize is ignorance
of the secret about the young actress’s intentions to seduce him and disrupt
his relationship with his uncle. The scene works well.
Ozu is a master of building up to confrontation. In
Floating Weeds we are led into a small town, enjoying the scenery, the world
seems at peace. Yet, Ozu builds up the tension. The audience learns of the
secret. A plan is hatched to reveal the boy’s father. All this comes to a
culmination of conflict between the teenage boy and his mother and father.
Perhaps this film would not get made in current times.
The film has a soap opera quality. The emotional understatement also belongs to
the era in which it was made. It belongs to the pre-1960s era of understatement
and respect for a morality typical of the 1950s and early 1960s. Much of this
changed after the social changes of the 60s and 70s. Floating Weeds is an
example of how Japan was prior to the changes of the 60s.
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