The Only Son - The First Sound Film of Ozu (1936)

(video by swelzer)

Hitori musuko (The Only Son), the first sound film made by Ozu. It was 1936 (Ozu remained all his life very stubborn regarding his cinematographic techniques: he was the last of the great moviemakers to start creating sound films, as he would be the last to switch to color).

Chishu Ryu appears here in a secondary role. The lead is Chouko Iida. A very sad story, told by Ozu in his masterful way: with decency and poignancy. A widowed mother (Choucko Iida) gives up everything to let her son pursue his studies. He moves to Tokyo, full of ambitions and tenacity. After thirteen years his mother is able to come to visit him. His life was totally mediocre.

Look at the scene from the video: Ozu was fantastic in his language of images! The sadness of the personages is continuously balanced by the slow motion of clouds, by the wind moving the stems, while the high chimneys are a memento mori. The son failed in everything, and the old mother finds in herself the force to encourage him!

And again, the clouds, the wind, telling us that life goes on no matter what.




(Yasujiro Ozu and Setsuko Hara)