Review of There Was a Father (1942) by Pavandeep S — 04 Jan 2009

I have nothing against the propaganda elements in here, film is ultimately one of the finer forms of agitprop invented, a disassembling of the greater kind, but consider that when you hit the scene where the father starts to lambast the son for his weak-willed and utterly emotional decision and you know something is wrong.

Ozu has a canny way of capturing moments and that one stuck out like a sore foot that was rarely seen in his other films. But it was very engaging, one of his more engaging in fact, at least for me.