Autumn Afternoon, An

Director: Yasujirō Ozu
Year Released: 1962
Rating: 2.5

Tepid re-working of Ozu's vastly superior Late Spring once again has a considerate single father (Chishū Ryū) realizing he needs to marry off his young daughter. Lacks the core tension that existed in Late Spring - the father and daughter in that picture were inseparable - while in this update she's more or less the housemaid (Ryū's character also has a son to watch over), and the story drifts around to cover ground with several side characters who don't have much to do with the main narrative. It's as laid-back and formless as Ozu gets, and more of his focus seems to be on the dubious presence of Western culture (in a notable chat with a former sailor in a bar, Ryū says he's glad Japan lost the war) than marriage and loneliness.