A couple of weeks back, I
was lucky enough to catch a mini Ozu retrospective at the Filmothéque du Quartier Latin, one of Paris’ many terrific little arthouse cinemas in the
district around the Sorbonne. Even better, alongside two of Ozu’s best-known
films - Tokyo Story and An Autumn Afternoon -the management had decided to
include one of the director’s lesser-known works: his first talkie, The Only
Son. Having seen Tokyo Story fairly recently, I skipped it this time round to
focus on the other films in the series, which I was watching for the first
time, and in doing so gained a fresh appreciation of an auteur who only seems
to get better with age. Nonetheless, although one of Ozu’s hallmarks is the
consistency and continuity which links all of his films together, by
juxtaposing his first talking picture and his last we can clearly see that a
journey of tremendous aesthetic and an emotional refinement separates the early
effort and the final masterpiece.
