There is joy and agony in being able to revisit your own past. That’s the story that Yasujirō Ozu told in 1934 in his silent movie A Story of Floating Weeds. But he was only 31 when he made that film, so the bitter pangs of a life of remorse had not yet been sharpened by age. Maybe that’s why he decided to revisit not only those themes but that story 25 years later as Floating Weeds. Both films are masterpieces, but the more mature Ozu would find greater, quieter depths in the struggles of aging kabuki actor and impresario Komajuro (Nakamura Ganjirō II) as he dismantles his life in desperate hopes of rebuilding a connection with a son who doesn’t know who he is. – Richard Whittaker
Feb. 2 & 5
