Floating Weeds

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Film Description

A masterful remake of his silent 1934 film in which an ageing actor returns with his troupe to a provincial town, there to be reunited with his former lover and illegitimate son. Beautifully photographed by Kazuo Miyagawa, a restrained and bittersweet melodrama.

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Review by Howard Schumann on 29th October 2003

Floating Weeds by Yasujiro Ozu is an exquisitely restrained film about a failing acting troupe that travels to a small town and engenders a conflict of generations in a Japanese family. The film is one of Ozu's most beautiful and its brilliant colors convey the feeling of being transported to a Japanese coastal village. Sadly opening crowds are small and Komajuro (Ganjiro Nakamura), the principal actor in the troupe, goes off by himself to visit Oyoshi (Haruko Sugimura), a former lover who runs a Saki bar. She has an adult son, Kiyoshi (Hiroshi Kawaguchi) who Komajuro had fathered many years ago. Komajuro has hidden his identity from the boy because of his shame at being a traveling actor. When the troupe continues to draw small crowds, Komajuro's inner pain becomes visible and he strikes out against those around him.


Floating Weeds is a very intimate experience. The camera is static, focusing on the characters as they engage in discussions about commonplace events. The overall effect, however, is not dull or banal but conveys a sense of the natural rhythm of life. Ozu is a loving observer of human nature not a moralist. There are no saints in this film and each character is vulnerable and deeply human. Komajuro is alone but he has retained his humanity and we feel only compassion for him. The film has, in the phrase of Donald Richie, "a kind of resigned sadness, a calm and knowing serenity which maintains despite the uncertainty of life and things of this world". Floating Weeds is a masterful film from a director who truly respects his audience.

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Article - "Yasujiro Ozu" by Paul Willemen
Monday 1st December 2003

There are a handful of cineastes about whom one can safely say that if you have not seen some of their films, you have missed out on the best of twentieth century cinema. Ozu is a prominent member of that small group. He is, still to date, quite simply Japan’s greate...  View article in full

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