The Flavour of Green Tea over Rice

Yasujiro Ozu explores the nature of deceit and companionship in this wry yet ultimately touching study of arranged marriage. In showing how a discontented executive (Shin Saburi) and his free-spirited wife (Michiyo Kogure) work through the crisis in their relationship, he highlights the shifting social priorities of the postwar bourgeoisie while also evoking a fond nostalgia for the recent past. As such, it remains a recognisably intimate Ozu offering, in spite of the diversity of locations and frequency of camera movements, as well as the unceasing experimentation with point-of-view shots, narrative space and rhythmic cutting.