#232: OZU, Yasujiro: A Story Of Floating Weeds (1934) / Floating Weeds (1959)

OZU, Yasujiro (Japan)

A Story Of Floating Weeds [1934] / Floating Weeds [1959]

Spine #232
DVD

In 1959, Yasujiro Ozu remade his 1934 silent classic, A Story of Floating Weeds, in color with celebrated cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa (Rashomon, Ugestu). Setting his later version in a seaside location, Ozu otherwise preserves the details of his elegantly simple plot wherein 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. Together, the films offer a unique glimpse into the evolution of one of cinema's greatest directors. Floating Weeds reveals his distinct style at its pinnacle. In each, the director captures the joy and sadness of everyday life.

A Story Of Floating Weeds

86 minutes
Black & White

Silent with optional score

Japanese intertitles

Floating Weeds

119 minutes

Color

Monaural

in Japanese

1:33:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2004

Director/Writers

A Story of Floating Weeds (1934)

Script by Tadao Ikeda (after the George Fitzmaurice film, The Barker [1928])

Story by “James Maki” (Yasujiro Ozu)

Ozu was 31 when he directed A Story of Floating Weeds.

Floating Weeds (1959)

Script by Kogo Noda and Ozu (based on the 1934 Ikeda script)

Ozu was 56 when he directed Floating Weeds.

Other Ozu films in the Collection:

Eclipse Series 42: Walk Cheerfully (1930)
Eclipse Series 42: That Night's Wife (1930)
Eclipse Series 10: Tokyo Chorus (1931)
Eclipse Series 10: I Was Born, But . . . (1932)
Eclipse Series 42: Dragnet Girl (1933)
Eclipse Series 42: Passing Fancy (1933)
#525: The Only Son (1936)
#526: There Was A Father (1942)
#331: Late Spring (1949)
#240: Early Summer (1951)
#989: The Flavor Of Green Tea Over Rice (1952)
#217: Tokyo Story (1953)
Eclipse Series 3:Early Spring (1956)
Eclipse Series 3: Tokyo Twilight (1957)
Eclipse Series 3: Equinox Flower (1958)
#84: Good Morning (1959)
Eclipse Series 3: Late Autumn (1960)
Eclipse Series 3: End Of Summer (1961)
#446: An Autumn Afternoon (1962)

The Film

It can probably be said that after his initial infatuation with various Hollywood genres — like the first surviving silent, Days of Youth (1929), a ski pic; or Dragnet Girl (1933) {Eclipse Series #42}, a gangster flic — most of Ozu’s films are remakes of previous ones.

Of course, this is a slight exaggeration, but only slight. Every postwar film, for example, is about the dissolution of the traditional Japanese family — with delightful variations.

Criterion’s idea to put these two films together in one package — made 25 years apart from one another — was genius. The ‘59 is not just a vanilla remake of the ‘34, but a beautiful reworking of the ideas and cinematic touches of the earlier version.

**

A Story of Floating Weeds (1934)

• The final silent Ozu, at a time when everyone else had already moved on to sound!
• Therefore, a note on Donald Sosin’s score. It is magnificent, riding the crest of the strong undercurrent of melodrama, only to pull back at just the right moment, keeping things balanced.
• This is the first film to use the plain “burlap weave” background behind the opening credits. Only a few films from this point on will use a different background.
• Ozu was a master of timing out a scene. Check out the first one:
• [9 sec] A hazy, out-of-focus, dimly-lit shot of the interior of the railway station.
• [5 sec] The camera is placed right behind two window-like frames, with a vertical beam cutting through the left side of the frame. We see a sign, a lantern, a clock …
• [4 sec] Ext: railway signs and signals; one flicks downwards …
• [9 sec] Medium shot of railway employee in profile, sitting on the bench, smoking. Notice how the length of this cut relaxes the tempo.
• [4 sec] 90° turn, close frontal shot, smoking, flicks ash, looks up …
• [2 sec] Cut to a second railway employee, lifting a wicker basket.
• And so the location is set. The train pulls into the station and the troupe detrains.
• Tomibo (Tomio Aoki) is introduced to the station master as being nine years old, the exact age of Aoki at the time.
• 0:05:19: This shot displays a train map on the left-hand side of the frame. We won’t see it again until the very end, when it immediately reminds us of where we are …
• Ozu’s mature style is already full realized here, with discernible structure and form, brilliant characterizations, simple camera set-ups, and the consistent calm “fermatas,” or pauses (pillow shots), which occur between scenes, as everyday objects appear in their stillness and reinforce the magical reverie …
• 0:02:06: [Opening] Train interior; sign/lantern/clock/railway signals;
• 0:05:41: [Troupe leaving the station] Large white banners swaying gently in the wind, with the mountains in the background; a poster advertising the troupe: “Kihachi Ichikawa’s Troupe! Opens July 7!”
• 0:07:18 [Maako (Nagamasa Yamada) distributing fliers] POV through window bars; the large banner, inside, an altar with paper charms;
• Note the timing of these still visuals; after these last two, we move fairly swiftly through 1) Tomibo eating watermelon; 2) Kihachi (Takeshi Sakamoto) getting a moxa* treatment; and 3) Kihachi leaving to visit a “patron.”
• 0:11:37: [Kihachi and Ostune (Chôko Iida) have reunited, and she asks him if he wants a drink] Hanging kimono; sake bottle heating up;
• 0:20:06: [Shinkichi (Kôji Mitsui) comes home. Ozu cuts right to the horse rehearsal] Another altar decorated with paper charms;
• 0:24:03 [The performance; it begins to rain] A cup, a few open books and rain falling on the tatami mats; light bulb; altar; theatre floor, rain falling …
• 0:25:01 [Kihachi and Tomibo, bowing, apologizing for the rain] ECU on two buckets, another, several cups with Kichi (Seiji Nishimura); and Tomibo’s father (Reikô Tani) in the background — axial cut on the two men …
• 0:29:25: Ozu cuts directly from the conversation between Otaka (Emiko Yagumo) and Tomibo’s father; (she’s offering him money) to Otsune, calmly peeling a piece of fruit.
• 0:37:54 [After the Kihachi/Otaka scene in the rain] light bulb, shot from above …
• 0:40:45 [Otaka/Otoki (Yoshiko Tsubouchi) scene] A sign; bowls to catch the rain the foreground, the theatre audience (smaller), a box hanging from a tree surrounded by paper charms …
• These four shots take us from the theatre to somewhere outside with amazing economy;
• 0:42:39 [Otoki meets Shinkichi on the road. He leans on his bicycle, camera remaining stationary while he moves off] the bike, indoors, his clothes, hanging on the line …
• 0:45:07 [They meet late at night] tall white banners; bars, indoors …
• 0:46:43 [Otoki has returned. She turns out the light — FTB] clothes on the laundry line, swaying in the wind (perhaps the most identifiable pillow shot in all of Ozu’s work!) …
• 0:48:09 [“Where is Otoki?] CU of bicycle;
• 0:51:04 [Otoki/Shinkichi scene by railroad tracks] bicycle (indoors), clothes on the line (almost identical to previous shot), his desk …
• 0:59:27 [after the fight with Otaka] tea kettle, placing us at Otsune’s …
• 1:01:33 [Kihachi and Otsune worry about the situation] a clock (midnight) …
• 1:03:34 [after the bankruptcy] a left-to-right pan of the troupe’s packed baggage; the light bulb;
• 1:08:22 [the troupe sings together, but sadness reigns] stacked tatami mats, the bike, looking like it’s being stored for the long term (Shinkichi has outgrown it) …
• 1:22:13 [long bitter scene with Otoki, Shinkichi, Kihachi and Otsune] the sculpture on the shelf, the smoking mosquito coil by the shoji … (we leave Otsune’s) …
• 1:25:43 [railway station] final shot of the train moving away …

One the funniest gags in the film occurs at 0:07:24. Tomibo is eating watermelon. His father warns him that he’ll have Otoki give him a moxa treatment (which Kihachi is undergoing) if he wets his pants again. Tomibo thinks it over, looks at Kihachi and says:

• “Did the boss wet the bed last night?”
• *Direct scarring moxibustion places a small cone of mugwort on the skin at an acupuncture point and burns it until the skin blisters, which then scars after it heals.

Ozu moves the camera only four times in the entire film, each movement having a corresponding echo:

• At 0:20:14 he dollies past the theatre audience; and again at 0:21:15.
• At 1:01:38 he dollies past the troupe, now audience to the bankruptcy dealer. The echo occurs at 1:03:34, as Ozu dollies past the packed luggage of the bankrupt troupe.

Chishû Ryû makes a cameo during the initial performance scene. Right after Kihachi appears on stage, Ozu cuts to Ryû, who shouts “Finally!” (his only line in this film!)

Floating Weeds (1959)

• The third of his last six color films — like the other five — you will find dashes of bright red, usually in the lower half of the right side of the frame in almost every shot!
• The pillow shots are particularly gorgeous.
• Ozu’s contract with Shochiku required him to deliver one film per year. He finished Good Morning (1959) {Spine #84} rather quickly, and Daiei jumped at the chance to use him.
• New actors, new DP — perhaps the great Japanese cinematographer of all time — Kazuo Miyagawa (Rashomon [1950] {Spine #138}, Ugetsu [1953] {Spine #309}, Yojimbo [1961] {Spine #52}, etc.)
• The location is the island of Shijima, along the Wakayama Kii Peninsula. Ozu and Noda had originally written the script with a snowy location in mind, but there wasn’t enough snow that winter.
• 0:02:04: The opening shot is one of those iconic stunners: an unforgettable image that sticks in your mind: a white lighthouse at the end of a pier, a huge expanse of blue sky and sea, and over on the right-hand side of the frame — a dark empty bottle.
• A few more pillow shots and we’re into the action. The characters complain about how hot it is.
• Someone mentions that he’s seen Komajuro (Ganjirô Nakamura, brilliant) play Chuya Marubashi.
• “When a feudal lord had been deprived of his domain by the bakufu, the vassals of that han (clan or fief) became ronin. Therefore, it was said that Shosetsu and his fellow Marubashi Chuya (? - 1651) and others sympathized with ronin samurai and organized them and hatched a plot to overthrow the Tokugawa Bakufu. The conspiracy was discovered in advance. Shosetsu committed suicide. Marubashi Chuya and others were executed. It was believed that Shosetsu left a note saying that they had only wanted to focus attention on the plight of the ronin, not to plot to overthrow the bakafu.
• 0:04:05: A two-pillow shot introduction:
• The lighthouse, no empty bottle, but a flying bird. (Sound: distant putt-putt of engine) …
• Small plankway on the boat; life preserver; pumps. (Sound: loud engine noise) …
• Seven-person composition, as we meet the players: Sentaro (Mantarô Ushio), his son Masao (Masahiko Shimazu, lsamu in Good Morning), Rokusaburo (Tatsuo Hanabu) / cut / Sumiko (Machiko Kyô) / cut / Kichinosuke (Mitsui*), Sugiyama (Yosuke Irie) and Kayo (Ayako Wakao) …
• *Ryû (theatre owner) and Mitsui are the only actors who appear in both the ‘34 and ‘59 versions!
• Kichi walks into the bar where a lady in a slip (it’s hot out!) asks him his name.
• “Toshirô.”
• “Toshirô?”
• “Mifune.”
• (Toshirô Mifune was, of course, a huge star by 1959)
• Haruko Sugimura plays the mother, Oyoshi.
• She asks Komajuro about his sore shoulders. He doesn’t remember. (in the ‘34 version, he was sore) …

Film Rating (0-60):

58

The Extras

The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by Donald Richie.

“‘Floating weeds, drifting down the leisurely river of our lives,’ has long been a favored metaphor in Japanese prose and poetry. This plant, the Ukigusa (duckweed in English), floating aimlessly, carried by stronger currents, is seen as emblematic of our own journey. And sometimes this identity is made explicit — in the lives of traveling actors, for example.”

Commentary

A Story Of Floating Weeds (1934)

By Richie. He wrote the book:

A masterful commentary, touching on everything …

Floating Weeds (1959)

By Roger Ebert.

A little nit-picking, but Ebert states that Ozu only made four color films; it was actually six …

Ebert is a true fan.

“With an Ozu film, every time I see it, it’s a little different, because I’m a little different.”

A really beautiful commentary from someone who clearly appreciates what Ozu did. He makes a point of contrasting the beautiful stillness of a film like this with the typical Hollywood one-second cuts …

A Story Of Floating Weeds (1934) 

Score

By noted silent-film composer Sosin.

Floating Weeds (1959) 

Original theatrical trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

37

58 + 37 =

95

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