Yasujiro Ozu's final film is about an aging man realizing his parental duty to his daughter to find her a husband. It is a portrait of traditional Japanese society, with all its biases and strengths, reinforcing gender roles. Japanese acting is restrained and straightforward. It is rarely overly emotional. They give each other small grunts of acknowledgement. They almost whisper "hai" to the knock at the door. And these old people sit cross-legged on the floor and get up with no problem. They drink copious amounts of sake. The camera is set up in tatami position very low. The actor is centered and the camera is completely still, with no pans. The music is only present in between scenes as we see exteriors to set the scene. The music is peppier than expected considering the theme of loneliness. Why it's called An Autumn Afternoon, I don't really know. The Japanese title refers to a scene that has nothing to do with autumn or the afternoon. All of the English titles of Ozu's film allude to seasons, major it's just in keeping with the theme. But it seems kind of arbitrary on an individual level.
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