The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice
(Ochazuke no Aji)
Screening on Film
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu.
With Shin Saburi, Michiyo Kogure, Koji Tsuruta.
Japan, 1952, 35mm, black & white, 115 min.
Japanese with English subtitles.
With Shin Saburi, Michiyo Kogure, Koji Tsuruta.
Japan, 1952, 35mm, black & white, 115 min.
Japanese with English subtitles.
The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice has one of the great film titles, even though it might have more appropriately been called “Contempt.” Ozu set out to portray a man from the viewpoint of a woman, and produced this subtly painful comedy about a married couple drifting apart. He is a stolid, quiet country-bred businessman; she’s a city-bred snob bored with domestic life and scornful of her husband’s rustic ways (including his taste for the eponymous treat). When a favorite niece comes to visit, the unhappy couple is confronted with the possibility of reconciliation.