Yasujiro Ozu’s 1959 film “Floating Weeds,” which I discuss in this clip, is a drama about the romantic entanglements of members of an itinerant theatrical troupe with residents of a small seaside town, and offers a bright and flamboyant palette of cinematic color to match the emotional intensity of the action. Ozu is often considered to be a director of sober restraint; in fact, sober restraint is his main subject, and the subject of his critique. If he tones down the emotional temperature of his characters’ outward expression and keeps his image-making within a narrow spectrum of visual variety, it’s to heighten the power and scope of nuance. The changes of shots in Ozu are as audacious and jolting as those in, say, the films of Nicholas Ray, and the struggle for personal expression and freedom—inner and outer—in a convention-bound, tradition-burdened society is Ozu’s main subject, as it is for Ray. In this film, Ozu lets fly with more flagrant furies than usual. In his quiet (and, here, a little less quiet) way, he was an angry Expressionist, a permanent exile, who didn’t need to show his turmoil in a tumultuous way in order to capture and convey turmoil even wilder than that of some overtly agitated filmmakers.
Goings On
What we’re watching, listening to, and doing this week, online, in N.Y.C., and beyond. Paid subscribers also receive book picks.
Dept. of Medicine
How to Die in Good Health
The average American celebrates just one healthy birthday after the age of sixty-five. Peter Attia argues that it doesn’t have to be this way.
By Dhruv Khullar
Daily Cartoon
Daily Cartoon: Wednesday, April 17th
“As a juror, do you think you could be impartial to my client? And if so—how?”
By Brendan Loper
Daily Cartoon
Daily Cartoon: Tuesday, April 16th
“First, Goldilocks said the interest rates were too high. Then, Goldilocks said they were too low. Then, in agreement with the Federal Reserve Board, she finally said they were just right.”
By Christopher Weyant
Elements
The Highest Tree House in the Amazon
In 2023, conservationists and carpenters converged on Peru to build luxury accommodations in the rain-forest canopy.
By Allison Keeley