Unending Advance: Ozu before he was Ozu

Is it worth your time?

If you have a soft spot for silent-era dramas or are just curious about how legendary directors found their feet, absolutely. Skip this if you need your movies to move fast or if you find subtitles and grainy, flickering film distracting.

It’s the kind of movie that rewards patience. You can tell Ozu is already thinking about how people sit in rooms and how those spaces define their relationships. Even here, in the early days, you see the seeds of Make Way for Tomorrow.

Small details that stuck

• The way characters handle their tea cups feels way more intentional than it should.
• There’s a shot of a street scene that goes on for a beat too long, and I found myself staring at a blurry dog in the background instead of the main action.
• The expressions are so big compared to the later, more restrained Ozu style.

There's a moment about halfway through where the father figure is just staring at a wall. It’s not meant to be profound, but it hit me hard. It’s just a man realizing his time is moving in a different direction than his son's.

The pacing is a bit all over the place. Sometimes it feels like we’re rushing toward a confrontation, and other times it just hangs out in the hallway for no reason. Honestly? I didn't mind the wandering. It feels less like a script and more like a captured afternoon.

It definitely lacks the polish of Tin Pan Alley or the massive scope you see in some of those other 30s dramas. It’s quiet. It’s modest. It feels like someone made it with a lot of hope and not much budget.

I caught myself wondering if the actors knew how much their faces would be scrutinized decades later. Probably not. They just look like they’re trying to get the scene right. And they usually do.

It’s not a perfect film, but it’s real. It’s a bit messy at the edges, which makes it feel much more alive than the sterile stuff they churn out now. 🎞️