Rating: 
Summary: Very well done rerelease of two great films
Review:
This DVD set contains the two versions of Yasujiro Ozu's famous "Floating Weeds"
The story is about a travelling drama troupe and their work at a town in Japan. It also covers family life of the troupe.
"A Story of Floating Weeds" known in Japan as "Ukigusa monogatari" is the 1934 silent version of the film.
"Floating Weeds" or "Ukigusa" is the 1959 color version.
The word "Ukigusa" literally translates as "duckweed" which is also a very common weed in swamps in the southern United States.
Both films are very well photographed and the style of the second film is very distinct. The camera rarely, if ever, moves pans, or zooms. The music in the second film is also very reminiscent of the music by Nino Rota that is in some of Fellini's movies. I noticed this right away and it is also mentioned in the commentary.
The special features are quite good also.
Disc one contains the 1934 version of the film with optional audio commentary by Donald Richie and an optional score by Donald Sosin who has done scores for many silent films.
Dice two contains the 1959 version of the film with a theatrical trailer and optional audio commentary by world famous movie critic, Roger Ebert.
This is a must buy for those interested in Japanese cinema.
Rating:
Summary: A Gem
Review: A true family movie about a bad father coming back to save his son from the temptations of this world. It has beautiful photography and the story is very realistic and touching.
Rating: 
Summary: Troubling portrait of Japanese women
Review: Although I admire Ozu's style, his 'simple' approach to unfolding human behaviour and relationships, his approach to women in this particular film troubled me. The women in this film are treated either violently or cavalierly. After the protagonist has slapped his actress/girlfriend around and kicked her out onto the street, she later practically begs to come back to him. The protagonist has also fathered a child many years ago with a woman whom he leaves then later revisits, to see his son who is now a young man. He treats this mother of his child sometimes tenderly, sometimes neglectfully, and seemingly plays with her emotions. She takes it all rather submissively. There is another instance of male violence toward women, regarding a "loose" woman who is involved with his son. The protagonist does not treat her very well either. It is true that the film is beautiful to regard, with lovely cinamatography, and has a slow hypnotic feel to the narrative, but the social/societal treatment of women put me off.
Rating:
Summary: Another fine release from criterion....
Review: Floating weeds is the first Ozu film I have seen in color - it is very interesting to see how this master of black and white decided to utilize colors in a very striking way. The story is, like most Ozu films, very simple - about daily life - and leads, eventually, to a course of dramatic emotional events surrounding a family. It is not nearly as sad as 'Tokyo Story' but makes you reflect just as much. It is also an interesting comment on acting - on and off the stage - as the father in the film pretends he is an uncle to a son who does not know that this traveling actor - is actually his father - who elected to live a travelling life with an acting group - instead of settling down to raise a family.
This is another great criterion dvd - featuring commentary from Roger Ebert - and a beautiful transfer of the movie - and the earlier 1934 version. Ozu is without a doubt one of my personal favorite movie makers.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable! Now on DVD!
Review: Having seen almost all Ozu films extant,including some of his earliest short silents, I recommend this as one of his supreme accomplishments. Yes, it is off his regular beaten path. His first color film and a somewhat overworked plot, but that is not what you go to an Ozu film for. For some reason this is the only one of his films that I never fail to cry at the start of. I get swept away into another simple and sublime day-to-day world. After seeing it in public once, two women seated behind me said "What was that all about?" Just life, just life.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable! Now on DVD!
Review: Having seen almost all Ozu films extant,including some of his earliest short silents, I recommend this as one of his supreme accomplishments. Yes, it is off his regular beaten path. His first color film and a somewhat overworked plot, but that is not what you go to an Ozu film for. For some reason this is the only one of his films that I never fail to cry at the start of. I get swept away into another simple and sublime day-to-day world. After seeing it in public once, two women seated behind me said "What was that all about?" Just life, just life.
Rating:
Summary: The Quiet, Usual Ozu Masterpiece
Review: I have only really discovered Ozu in the last year or so and in my mid-- life it is like entering a bright new world. I have recently watched Floating Weeds for the second time (having ordered it on video). The first time I thought it an unusual film- though not one of his best. I have now completely revised this opinion and consider it a supreme masterpiece. Ozu astonishes with a quiet directness I find moving , completely absorbing and exhilarating to watch. I realize the theatre troup which comes into the town, contstructs its little Kabuki world and then fades into nothing is a perfect vehicle and symbol for what Ozu is consistently portraying in all his little plays: the transient , troubling beauty of the world . The transient troubling little dramas af human relationships.The imagery in all Ozu's films(but somehow epsecially this one) make me see images as I did in childhood : a turned corner on a side street, a scene of a harbor at dusk, a slightly surprised look on the face of middle-aged woman. Many of these movies were filmed when I was a child but I believe there is more than a kind odd 1950's familiarity. There is a kind of direct , unfettered appeal to sensations it is almost difficult to name. Something immediately
innocent and guileless in ourselves. Something always,already seeing and awake. The more I watch Ozu the more I see this and nowhere more than in this film. I kept chuckling at little, scene after little scene. Tiny little nuanced moments I kept rewinding to see if I'd really seen . Anyone who hasn't seen this film: Don't just watch it once.
Rating:
Summary: I loved loved loved this movie!
Review: If you only buy one Japanese film to add to your DVD collection, let it be an Ozu film and "Floating Weeds" is a wonderful place to start. There's really nothing I can say that isn't absolutely praiseworthy about Ozu and this film. It truly is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. The Criterion Collection DVD is also a masterpiece, giving us both the original silent "Story of Floating Weeds" and the 1959 remake "Floating Weeds", (both directed by Ozu). The mastering is done well, the sound is great, and the voice-over commentary by famed Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times is a delightful surprise. Ebert humbly acknowledges that there are better Japanese film & culture experts out there, but "does his best" to give a very thorough description of Ozu's very unique style. Needless to say, it's one of the better and more informative commentaries I've heard and Mister Ebert is modest. The story is genuine, sweet, simple, and believable. The characters are solid and have great depth. Ozu keeps the action and emotions to a realistic level without resorting to over-acting in any of his films. They almost don't feel like films in this way, but feel like intrusions into other peoples lives, but politely so. Many people have speculated as to Ozu's curious method of placing his camera just below the eye-level of his actors onscreen, and I have my own theory. Perhaps Mr Ozu also has the innocence of children in mind, and is trying to see the world unbiasedly and naively like a child might - from the aproximate eye-level of a child viewing the events happening in the same room as he or she? It's an idea anyway. Perhaps also Ozu wants the camera to look up to his characters as if it is respectfully just below them submissively, as if it is bowing to them all in respect? It's difficult to say for certain, but the look is unique in all of film and once it hooks you, you're hooked for life! You have been warned. After this wonderful classic, I recommend Ozu's "Tokyo Story" from 1953 (also recently released by the Criterion Collection). Ozu is a great film master and no one could compose a shot like he in all film history. If you haven't, you must see an Ozu film at least once in your lifetime!
Rating:
Summary: I loved loved loved this movie!
Review: If you only buy one Japanese film to add to your DVD collection, let it be an Ozu film and "Floating Weeds" is a wonderful place to start. There's really nothing I can say that isn't absolutely praiseworthy about Ozu and this film. It truly is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. The Criterion Collection DVD is also a masterpiece, giving us both the original silent "Story of Floating Weeds" and the 1959 remake "Floating Weeds", (both directed by Ozu). The mastering is done well, the sound is great, and the voice-over commentary by famed Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times is a delightful surprise. Ebert humbly acknowledges that there are better Japanese film & culture experts out there, but "does his best" to give a very thorough description of Ozu's very unique style. Needless to say, it's one of the better and more informative commentaries I've heard and Mister Ebert is modest. The story is genuine, sweet, simple, and believable. The characters are solid and have great depth. Ozu keeps the action and emotions to a realistic level without resorting to over-acting in any of his films. They almost don't feel like films in this way, but feel like intrusions into other peoples lives, but politely so. Many people have speculated as to Ozu's curious method of placing his camera just below the eye-level of his actors onscreen, and I have my own theory. Perhaps Mr Ozu also has the innocence of children in mind, and is trying to see the world unbiasedly and naively like a child might - from the aproximate eye-level of a child viewing the events happening in the same room as he or she? It's an idea anyway. Perhaps also Ozu wants the camera to look up to his characters as if it is respectfully just below them submissively, as if it is bowing to them all in respect? It's difficult to say for certain, but the look is unique in all of film and once it hooks you, you're hooked for life! You have been warned. After this wonderful classic, I recommend Ozu's "Tokyo Story" from 1953 (also recently released by the Criterion Collection). Ozu is a great film master and no one could compose a shot like he in all film history. If you haven't, you must see an Ozu film at least once in your lifetime!
Rating:
Summary: What is a family?
Review: Ozu called himself a "tofu dealer" who sold many different kinds of tofu, but never pork cutlets or anything like that. He was a master of variations on a theme, taking simple stories and telling and re-telling them, each time with a subtle difference, a slight bend in light and tone. In this stunning DVD package, we are treated to two servings of the same tofu, with the flavor variation that comes with ageing.
The older film, 1934's silent masterpiece "A Story of Floating Weeds" ("Ukigusa monogatari") was made by a younger man with a younger man's passion and righteousness, and the more modern update, 1959's "Floating Weeds" ("Ukigusa,") longer and in color, shows the mellowing that comes with age, the greater desire to forgive, as we see the same story unfold in the hands of an older version of the same man.
Like the river weed from which the films take their names, the Kabuki actors in both versions float from town to town, going where the course takes them and leaving behind nothing permanent. Long ago, however, one piece of ukigusa, the troupe leader Kihachi, betrayed his nature and left behind something of himself, a son. Now, the course of the river brings Kihachi back to his house of old memories. He is excited, pleased with his son, and briefly considers abandoning his drifting ways to become a true and settled tree. But Kihachi does not float alone, and his leaves and roots are entangled with his Kabuki troupe, including his lover who is determined to keep him drifting.
Like all of Ozu's films, the role of the family is the forefront of "A Story of Floating Weeds/Floating Weeds." In these films, the idea of family is hard to define. Is it the Kabuki troupe, who live, sleep, eat and work together day in and day out, or is it the biological attachment with a son you have rarely met and a woman you never married. Irregardless of the definition, a breakdown is imminent, and only after the pieces have been scattered can we divine the truth.
Individually, either of these films is a treat, but bound together like they are in this Criterion Collection release the bar is raised even higher. A masterpiece of DVD craftsmanship to compliment two masterpiece films. Each film has a commentary track, "A Story of Floating Weeds" by Japanese film grandmaster Donald Richie, who also did the subtitles and provides an insert essay, and "Floating Weeds" by admitted Japanese film novice Roger Ebert. Both commentaries are incredibly insightful and add to the level of appreciation for these films. The new soundtrack for "A Story of Floating Weeds" is sublime, although I have never heard the original so I cannot make a comparison.
Hats off to the Criterion Collection! Now more Ozu, please! Keep them coming, just like this.
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