is a 1934

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

directed by

Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in t ...

which he later remade as ''

Floating Weeds is a 1959 Japanese drama directed by Yasujirō Ozu, starring Nakamura Ganjirō II and Machiko Kyō. It is a remake of Ozu's own black-and-white silent film '' A Story of Floating Weeds'' (1934) and considered one of the greatest films ever made. ...

'' in 1959 in color. It won the

Kinema Junpo Award , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ...

for best film.

Plot

The film starts with a travelling

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

troupe arriving by train at a provincial seaside town. Kihachi Ichikawa (

Takeshi Sakamoto was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1926 to 1965. Selected filmography External links * 1899 births 1974 deaths Japanese male film actors Actors from Hyōgo Prefecture {{Japan-film-actor-stub ...

), the head of the troupe, is a very popular actor. He takes time off to visit a former mistress Otsune ( Chouko Iida), with whom he had a son years before. His son, now a student, does not know that Kihachi is his father, thinking him an uncle. Kihachi and his son, Shinkichi, spend a fruitful afternoon fishing for

dace A dace is a small fish that can be one of many different species. The unmodified name is usually a reference to the common dace (''Leuciscus leuciscus''). This, like most fish called "daces", belongs to the family Cyprinidae, mostly in subfamily ...

in a nearby river. When the troupe's performance tour is postponed by the constant downpour around the region, one of the members of the troupe unwittingly reveals a secret: that Kihachi is seeing a woman every day. Otaka ( Rieko Yagumo), one of Kihachi’s actresses and his present mistress, decides to pay a visit to Otsune's watering-hole with fellow actress Otoki (

Yoshiko Tsubouchi Yoshiko is a feminine Japanese given name. Possible writings The name Yoshiko can have a variety of different meanings depending on which kanji characters are used to write it. Over 200 possible variations of the name exist. Some of the most commo ...

). Kihachi becomes enraged, warns Otaka never to come and harass the mother and son again, and breaks off his relationship with her. To get back at Otsune and Kihachi, Otaka suggests to Otoki to try to seduce Shinkichi and offers her some money. Otoki waits for Shinkichi at a tree by the road one day and offers to meet after her performance at the same place. Shinkichi agrees to the meeting, and the two start a clandestine love affair. As time goes by, Otoki realizes she has fallen for Shinkichi. She tells Shinkichi to forget her because she is merely a traveling actress. Kihachi discovers their affair, confronts Otoki and slaps her, demanding to know what she wants. Otoki reveals Otaka's setup, but tells him she now loves Shinkichi and is not doing this for money. Kihachi then beats up Otaka, but realizes he no longer has any control over the affair. Kihachi decides to disband the troupe, selling all their costumes and props. The kabuki actors have one last night together. Kihachi visits Otsune, and tells her of his troupe's break-up. She invites him to stay with her for good, and they decide to tell Shinkichi of his paternity secret. Shinkichi and Otoki return, but Shinkichi and Kihachi get into a violent quarrel when Kihachi hits Otoki repeatedly. Otsune now tells Shinkichi that Kihachi is his father, but Shinkichi refuses to acknowledge him for abandoning them. Otsune reasons that Kihachi doesn't want Shinkichi to become a traveling actor like him. Shinkichi leaves for his room in a huff. Kihachi decides to restart another troupe, realizing he cannot stay. Otoki asks to join him, but Kihachi leaves her in Otsune's care and asks Otoki to help his son be a great man. Shinkichi comes down to look for his father but he has gone on the road. At the railway station, Kihachi meets Otaka who helps light his cigarette with matches. He invites her to start a new traveling troupe with him at Kamisuwa. Otaka goes to buy an extra ticket to accompany him. The film ends with a shot of a train traveling toward Kamisuwa.

Themes

The film includes the first appearance of what became one of the director's trademarks: a title sequence in which the credits appear against a sackcloth backdrop. Not only does this fit the story's pastoral setting, but since the credit sequences of Ozu's previous films had featured cartoony illustrations, the choice of humble sackcloth indicates the emergence of his mature film-making style.

Cast

as Kihachi * Chôko Iida as Otsune, Ka-yan *

Kōji Mitsui was a Japanese movie, TV, and stage actor. He appeared in more than 150 films from 1925 to 1975, including 29 of ''Kinema Junpo''’s annual Top-10 winners and three of its 10 best Japanese films of all time. In 2000 the magazine named him one ...

as Shinkichi (credited as Hideo Mitsui) * Rieko Yagumo as Otaka * Yoshiko Tsubouchi as Otoki * Tomio Aoki as Tomi-boh * Reikô Tani as Tomibo's father Rest of cast listed alphabetically: * Kiyoshi Aono as Sword trainer * Mariko Aoyama as Barber's landlady * Mitsumura Ikebe as Villager * Seiji Nishimura as Kichi, an actor * Mitsuru Wakamiya as Station attendant

DVD release

''A Story of Floating Weeds'' was released on Region 1 DVD on

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

on April 20, 2004 as a two-disc set with ''Floating Weeds''. An alternate audio track contains a

commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

by Japanese film historian

Donald Richie Donald Richie (17 April 1924 – 19 February 2013) was an American-born author who wrote about the Japanese people, the culture of Japan, and especially Japanese cinema. Although he considered himself primarily a film historian, Richie also di ...

; another features a new score by

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Donald Sosin.

Legacy

In 2005, the New York Guitar Festival commissioned the guitarist Alex de Grassi to compose a score to ''A Story of Floating Weeds''. The guitarist performed his original music to accompany the film at the 2006 New York Guitar Festival.

References

External links

* *
''Stories of Floating Weeds''
an essay by

at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Story Of Floating Weeds, A 1934 films Japanese silent films Japanese black-and-white films Films directed by Yasujirō Ozu 1930s Japanese-language films Shochiku films Best Film Kinema Junpo Award winners Films with screenplays by Tadao Ikeda Films with screenplays by Yasujirō Ozu Japanese drama films 1934 drama films Silent drama films