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Good Morning - Criterion Collection |  | Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Actors: Keiji Sada, Yoshiko Kuga, Chishû Ryû, Kuniko Miyake, Haruko Sugimura
Studio: Criterion
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.95
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Rating:  23 reviews
Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Languages: Japanese (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 94 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: PMIDGOO060D
ISBN: 0780023307
UPC: 037429149720
EAN: 9780780023307
Theatrical Release Date: February 1962
Release Date: August 22, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 08/22/2000 Run time: 93 minutes
Amazon.com
By the time he made Good Morning in 1959, Yasujiro Ozu had completely eliminated camera movement from his uniquely simple but elegant directorial style. He chose instead to emphasize static but meticulously purposeful compositions that rarely, if ever, wavered from their recognizable low-angle perspective. In Good Morning, this observational approach is put to sublime use to establish setting (a late-'50s Tokyo suburb) and to view the world through the eyes of the film's central characters—-two young brothers who take a mutual vow of silence to protest their parents' refusal to buy a TV set. Their father claims that television will create "a million idiots," while their mother is angered by the boys' neglect of schoolwork in favor of watching sumo wrestling on a neighbor's TV. In Ozu's hands, this sublimely simple conflict inspires a comedic exploration of Japan at the dawn of its electronic age, when consumerism and materialism are in vogue, salesmen solicit their wares in constant door-to-door visits, and even the purchase of a washing machine can prompt neighbors into a frenzy of gossipy speculation. Funniest of all are the conspiratorial brothers, who play an amusing variation of "pull my finger" (proving that even great directors can indulge a fart joke if they choose), and employ their silent strategy with the stubbornness that only children can get away with. Through it all, Ozu develops a handful of intermingling themes of love, communication, goodwill, and the changing of societal traditions. Utterly simple on the surface, Good Morning reveals its complexity in careful proportion, with the affectionate humanity that was Ozu's greatest gift. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 23
 A wonderful Ozu film, a Criterion Collection barebones DVD release though... November 9, 2009
Dennis A. Amith (kndy) (California)
Recently, I have had this urge to watch a Yasujiro Ozu film which I have never seen before. THE CRITERION COLLECTION has been very devoted to the popular director from Japan with several releases of his films in the United States and one film that I have always wanted to watch and have never gotten to was "Ohayo" aka in the US as "Good Morning".
Many of Ozu's films typically feature aging and in many cases elderly father's who fear that they are wasting their daughters lives because the daughters are dedicated to family and taking care of the parents that they have not had a chance to experience life and love for themselves.
But I heard that his 1959 film "Good Morning" was among Ozu's most lighthearted, hilarious films about a Japanese family but very different from his previous works. And dare I say, it was probably one of the first films to use flatulence as a gag throughout the film. So, needless to say that nearly a decade after its release on DVD, I had to hunt this DVD down.
"Good Morning" takes place in the suburban Tokyo where homes live in close proximity to each other. Some homes that capture that original Japanese traditional style of home but also combines it with a Western American style of home with the white picket fence all around.
The first half of the film features a group of young students and adults who live in a neighborhood of suburban Tokyo. The kids enjoy a joke of pressing on each other's forehead which they then fart. The kids are supposedly eating pumice stone (or the powder of it) which enables them to be gassy but one of the kids, unfortunately is unable to producer a fart and somewhat ends up sharding in his pants.
But what the kids enjoy the most which is watching television. A lot of them hang out with this Bohemian neighbors who are seen wearing their pajamas all day or singing scat while walking through the neighborhood. But of course, the mothers of the children are not too thrilled that the kids are bypassing their studies to watch television.
Director Ozu then focuses on the adults in the film. How the wives practice gossip and how Mrs. Haraguchi, the leader of the women's club who receives the club dues from the other housewives said that she has never received payment and now the other housewives wonder what happened to the money. When Mrs. Haraguchi of the group (who denies receiving the payment), she becomes the talk of the neighborhood as the family has bought a new washing machine, the other women wonder if their money was used for that purchas.
For Mrs. Hayashi, the treasurer of the club, she confronts Mrs. Haraguchi telling her that she gave the money to her mother. So, as the film focuses on the gossip that happens among the housewives, we then see a variety of things in Japan such as the occasional door-to-door business people trying to sell products such as rubber bands, pencils, toothbrushes, etc. (note: The business people and occasional neighbors do not knock on the doors and end up opening the doors of their neighbors and sitting in their entry way) But we start to see how these salespeople are a nuisance to home owners at that time.
As for the husbands in the film, they talk about retirement and as part of Japanese culture today, as it was back then, heading to the bar and going out for a drink before heading home.
But the film then starts to zero in on the Hayashi family. The Hayashi children: Minoru and his younger brother Isamu (the main protagonist children in the film) are bored at home and dislike how their parents tell them to avoid going to the neighbors and not watch television (mainly because they think the housewife is a cabaret singer). This starts to anger Minoru as he doesn't understand why his family can't just buy one. An argument takes place and when Minoru pushes his parents buttons, their father who is angered, tells them to be quiet and not say any more words.
So, in a protest to his family not buying a television, Minoru and his brother do just what their father has said... not to say anymore words and literally not talk anymore. This sets off a chain of events where the kids inability to talk or say hello to the housewives early in the morning starts to make them think that Mrs. Hayashi is angry at the housewives and have told their children not to talk to them. Meanwhile, the children who were active in school are no longer saying a word and causing their teachers and their tutors distress and making them wonder why the kids are no longer talking.
Will Minoru and Isamu's silence work in their favor and lead to the family buying a television? Or will their silence continue to be come problematic?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
"Good Morning" is a film presented in its original aspect ration of 1:33:1 and features a newer digital transfer created from a 35mm low-contrast composite print. This was one of the six films in which director Yasujiro Ozu used color and for the most part, I found "Good Morning" to be wonderful in the fact that we are seeing a time capsule of Japanese culture as it is becoming westernized. It has been over a decade since World War II but to see how American culture has permeated into suburban Tokyo with the white picket fences, children learning English classes, people making money through translations, a more westernized home versus the Japanese traditional home. These things were captured in this 1959 film.
As for picture quality, the film is not exactly pristine as you will see dust and film warping throughout the film but it's not so bad where the film is unwatchable. THE CRITERION COLLECTION used a newer digital transfer but it would be interesting to see if they ever re-release this film via Blu-ray, if new technology would be able to remove the dust and scratches.
Audio is in Dolby Digital Mono and I chose to watch the film with my receiver set at "stereo on all channels" in order to hear the audio from all around me via my 7.2 setup versus it being center channel driven. But overall, dialogue is clear.
Subtitles are in English and features nice and thick white subtitles.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
"Good Morning" features no special features but a "color bar" test. There is a four-page booklet featuring Rick Prellinger (an archivist and filmmaker) who writes about this film and director Yasujiro Ozu.
JUDGMENT CALL:
After watching the film, I can understand why this film was enjoyable but also how the film is almost a time capsule of a time in Japan who where American/Western culture was starting to permeate into Japanese culture. This is important to note because for the most part, one of the reasons why Ozu's films rarely made it into the United States because many distributors looked at his films as being "too Japanese". And I can only have wished there were some sort of recordings back then, because I would have loved to hear or read an interview in regards to Ozu's thoughts in the making of this film.
It was also good to see that Ozu style of filmmaking in which he doesn't use the 180 degree rule and used over-the-shoulder dialogue scenes. So, the shots used in the film feature the actors and actresses talking directly to you on screen. My young son who joined me for a short while even asked me during the film "Dad, why does it look like the people are talking to me?". That's a characteristic of Ozu's style of filmmaking.
"Good Morning" was a very fun film that is simple and captures human behavior. Minoru makes the biggest point in the film where he criticizes adults for meaningless conversations. Where conversations are either good morning, good afternoon, the weather is nice today and the conversations have no substance. That was a smart thing for the child to say because we see that emptiness in the conversations of the adults.
I also found it so interesting to see the simplicity of life before television and we are seeing that moment of time before households owned a TV and the children being so enamored by it.
Minoru and Isamu are just adorable children to watch and its just the certain behaviors, especially from little Isamu that is so natural as he walks around the hallway making punching movements or jumping. Things that kids do but you just never see in a film. I thought those little details in life was fun to see in this film. And as for the children... sure, there are a good number of fart jokes in the film (which is actually not as bad as it reads in my review because its not meant to be disgusting especially compared to how flatulence sounds in today's modern films).
As for a release from THE CRITERION COLLECTION, as mentioned earlier, the company has released a good number of Ozu films throughout the years but for this release, the only thing that I wish it had was any kind of special feature. May it be Ozu interviews, audio interviews or even a commentary from a film scholar who is familiar with Ozu's work. Even the original Japanese theatrical trailer. Anything is better than nothing. But that is the only downer but overall, this film is still worth watching.
Overall, "Good Morning" is an entertaining and hilarious Japanese film that is so different from Ozu's previous and later works. But I also look at the significance of the film of when it was filmed and the Japanese lifestyle that is showcased and how Western culture started to permeate in Japan in the late 50's which is what I found so fascinating. Definitely a film worth recommending.
 "Feel good" - with a lot of depth August 30, 2009
Ashish Kumar (Singapore)
This is a wonderful movie! It's set in a Tokyo suburb of the 50s, and it's a slice of life which shows many kinds of human emotions - including pettiness and generosity. There's something wonderful about the colours and the use of the cildren's perspective.
It's set in the context of consumerism changing the social fabric of Japan, and the conflicts that arise when two children start to demand that their parents buy a TV.
It had me glued, it made me laugh out a few times, some of the discussions made me want to pause and think...of course I didn't. What more could you want from a movie.
Good Morning August 4, 2009
Timothy J. Lewis (Honolulu, Hawaii)
This movie is Yasujiro Ozu's first film in color. The year 1959 was the year Japan
became western influenced like television sets, washing machine, apartment buildings
and houses with a western touch that turned Japan's life style. The story depicks
various middle class Japanese families in the rural part of Tokyo. Family matters of
kids will be kids wanting so much a television set where the story flows into these
funny tantrums, to the next door rumors! Making this classic film a period in a ever
changing Japan. Life was simple, and comical.
Good comedy September 11, 2008
Cosmoetica (New York, USA)
Of the Big Three Japanese film directors from last century, who were known in the West, Kenji Mizoguchi, Akira Kurosawa, and Yasujiro Ozu, Ozu is by far the least well known, and this is because he was probably the least technically innovative of the troika. But, that is not the same as saying he was the least accomplished. In fact, his 1959 social comedy of manners, Good Morning (Ohayo), set in a modern Tokyo suburban subdivision, is in many ways far more relevant than the more famed period pieces the other directors made, for it has a definite Western sensibility. Ozu seemed to be obsessed with documenting history, but history as it was lived, not re-imagined. He was acutely aware of his role as a social documentarian, if in a fictive sense. It was also his third color film, and on the surface it would seem to narratively square very easily with the 1950s era American television comedies, as the central story of the film revolves around two brothers' silent protest over their clan's refusal to modernize and buy a tv like their friend's family has. It all seems very Beaver Cleaver, but appearances are not everything, especially when the patina is crafted by a Master from another culture.
Most of the film is shot in Ozu's famed and unjustly derided low camera angle, with a static lens, lending the charge of `minimalism' to his style. Yet, while that may be true in certain technical aspects, the truth is that the film, written by Ozu and Kogo Noda, is very multi-layered, deftly weaving low comedy- such as excessive farting, and all the modernism that entails, as the boys play a game where one boy presses another's forehead and he farts in response, with deeper social commentary on alcoholism, the `generation gap'- that old saw of the era, unemployment, and the bile of social gossip. The seemingly carefree farting of the children is thus deftly contrasted with the often ineffective social mechanisms of the adults. The title of the film, in fact, has an ironic meaning, for Ozu casts it as being said mostly in a negative and perfunctory way.... Compared with American suburban films from later years, like Ordinary People, or even films made in the last decade, like The Ice Storm or American Beauty, this film does not seem dated, especially compared to American film comedies of the era. Compare it even to a typical Billy Wilder comedy of the era and Ozu's superiority is manifest, almost as much as a fart is to some meaningless bon mot. Ain't art wonderful?
Light-hearted domestic comedy . . . January 19, 2008
Ronald Scheer (Los Angeles)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is Ozu at his best, a nicely crafted ensemble piece about several suburban families living in close proximity - so much so that their houses seem to open up into each other. Their lives likewise overlap, and the opportunity for a little misunderstanding and misjudgment (as in any good sitcom) quickly has its ripple effect through the whole community. Light hearted and pleasantly humorous, there are no real crises to be resolved. What we get is a celebration of daily domestic life, which is often a theme in Ozu stories, only this time the poignant shadows that sometimes creep in around the edges of his films are totally absent. For Ozu fans who know his more mature work, "Ohayo/Good Morning" may seem a little light weight. Still there is much to be enjoyed.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 23
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