Chichi ariki (1942)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Yasujiro Ozu

Writers:

Tadao Ikeda (writer)
Yasujiro Ozu (writer)

Release Date:

November 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Shuhei Horikawa, a poor schoolteacher, struggles to raise his son Ryohei by himself, despite neither money nor prospects. |

Cast

Chishu Ryu	...	Shuhei Horikawa
Shûji Sano	...	Ryohei
Shin Saburi	...	Yasutaro Kurokawa
Takeshi Sakamoto	...	Makoto Hirata
Mitsuko Mito	...	Fumi
Masayoshi Otsuka	...	Seichi
Shinichi Himori	...	Minoru Uchida
Haruhiko Tsuda	...	Ryohei as a child
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kanji Kawara	...	Teacher of junior high school
Yûsuke Kurata	...	Teacher of junior high school
Tsuneo Osugi

Also Known As:

There Was a Father

Runtime:

USA:94 min | Japan:94 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Brazil:18

Company:

Shochiku Kinema Kenkyû-jo

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ikite wa mita keredo - Ozu Yasujirô den (1983)

Father and Son

Being a fan of Ozu, you see here all the elements of his film making: The long shots, the trains, the interaction of family members etc. Kind of a precursor to the superior "Late Spring", this story revolves around a father and son's relationship. He works hard to get his son through school, so he can have a better life. However, they are not in the same place, so they do not see each other all that often. The film spans several years, in which the son goes from a young boy to a man. Chishu Ryu, who has starred in many Ozu films, is the father. Of course, he is great, he always is. Since the mother passed before the film even started, the boy only has the father, and their relationship is the heart of this film. A good to almost very good film, it was shown, appropriately enough, on Fathers Day on Turner Classic Movies. If you like Ozu, you'll want to see this. If you're new to him, check out the films with Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara, as well as his swan song "Autumn Afternoon" and even "I Was Born, But" before watching this. I liked it, it was a nice film. Its another worthy Ozu film, in a career that had so many of them.