Yasujirō Ozu
Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in the 1930s. Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the... Read full bio →
Sanma no aji
Shuhei Hirayama is a widower with a 24-year-old daughter. Gradually, he comes to realize that she should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.
Kohayagawa-ke no aki
The Kohayakawa family is thrown into distress when childlike father Manbei takes up with his old mistress, in one of Ozu’s most deftly modulated blendings of comedy and tragedy.
Akibiyori
A widow tries to marry off her daughter with the help of her late husband's three friends.
Ukikusa
A theater troupe master's visit with his old flame unintentionally sets off a chain of unexpected events with devastating consequences.
Ohayô
Two boys beg their parents for a television set, nagging them until all patience is lost. The parents order the boys to be quiet and the boys do exactly that--refusing to utter a word. The boys' silence ultimately puts the whole neighborhood into turmoil.
Higanbana
Later in his career, Ozu started becoming increasingly sympathetic with the younger generation, a shift that was cemented in Equinox Flower, his gorgeously detailed first color film, about an old-fashioned father and his newfangled daughter.
Tôkyô boshoku
Two sisters find out the existence of their long-lost mother, but the younger cannot take the truth of being abandoned as a child.
Soshun
A young salaryman and his wife struggle within the confines of their passionless relationship while he embarks on an extramarital affair.
Tôkyô monogatari
An old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city, but receive little attention.
Bakushû
A family chooses a match for their 28-year-old daughter Noriko, but she surprisingly has her own plans.
Banshun
Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life.
Kaze no naka no mendori
Tokiko patiently awaits her husband's return from WWII when her four-year old son falls ill. She takes him to the doctor but has no means of paying, so she resorts to prostitution. A month later, her husband returns to find his desperate wife, who tells him the truth. Together, they must deal with the consequences.
Nagaya shinshiroku
An errant salaryman's son gets lost until a man from the Tokyo tenements brings him to vendor Tane, who's reluctant to let the kid board.
Chichi ariki
Shuhei Horikawa, a poor schoolteacher, struggles to raise his son Ryohei by himself, despite neither money nor prospects.
Todake no kyodai
After the death of her husband, Mrs Toda and her youngest daughter receive a frosty welcome from the extended family.
Shukujo wa nani o wasureta ka
A professor, Komiya, and his bossy wife, Tokiko, are to look after Setsuko, their high-spirited niece from Osaka. Despite being a minor, Setsuko is a liberated woman who does whatever she wants, including smoking. She even convinces Koyima to take her to a geisha house.
Hitori musuko
A poor factory worker, visiting the Tokyo son she has skimped to educate, finds even a college degree doesn't make a difference in Depression era Japan.
Tôkyô no yado
An unemployed Japanese man and his two sons wander the industrial flatlands of Depression-era Tokyo, until he chances upon an old friend and befriends a woman and her daughter, who are in a similar predicament.
Ukikusa monogatari
An aging actor returns to a small town with his troupe and reunites with his former lover and illegitimate son, a scenario that enrages his current mistress and results in heartbreak for all.
Tôkyô no onna
Ryoichi and Chikako, brother and sister, live together. Chikako toils during the day and, at night, prostitutes herself to fund his college tuition.
Hijosen no onna
A gangster tries to find redemption with the inadvertent help of an innocent shop girl and his jealous girlfriend will do anything to keep him.
Dekigokoro
In Depression-era Tokyo, a struggling middle-aged single father with a young son comes across a homeless young lady and convinces a bar owner to take her in.
Seishun no yume ima izuko
Ozu’s long-term collaborator Kogo Noda scripts a subtle shift from light to dark as Hirano’s carefree college life is marred by tragedy.
Otona no miru ehon - Umarete wa mita keredo
Two young brothers become the leaders of a gang of kids in their neighborhood. Ozu's charming film is a social satire that draws from the antics of childhood as well as the tragedy of maturity.
Tôkyô no kôrasu
During the Depression, a young man struggles to provide for his family after he is sacked for defending an older colleague.
Sono yo no tsuma
The film revolves around a desperate man who commits a crime in order to support his family, and the moral dilemma the policeman who tracks him down finds himself in.
Rakudai wa shitakeredo
After the plans of a group of college students to cheat on their final exams goes awry, they're left to reassess their lives and educations and get back on track.
Hogaraka ni ayume
Raucous small-time thief Kenji falls in love with sweet and simple Yazue, but when she finds out what kind of guy he really is, she leaves him until he proves to be honest. Kenji soon finds it's not so easy to get rid of one's past.