YASUJIRO OZU

The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice

I randomly had a night with time for a movie recently, and decided it had been far too long since I’d watched a film by Yasujiro Ozu. It’s amazing really, I’ve only seen two of his non-silent fully developed works, and yet I would absolutely declare him as one of my all time favorite directors. That’s how good these films are.

No one makes anything like them today. If I’m wrong, and I just don’t know about it, please let me know! The smallness of the stories is incredible, and yet they resonate just the same. In this particular instance it’s all about the way that modernity and tradition can run directly into each other. On top of that, the ways in which marriage is ultimately about alignment, almost as much as it is about feeling.

I am not in an arranged marriage. Thank goodness for that. What a challenge that must have been! In a “love marriage” you at least have that love to fall back on in times of trouble. It’s what compels you to try to see things from their side. It’s what propels you to try and be the best you can be. It’s what carries you through when things are rough. In an arranged marriage, what do you have?

Still, the odds are probably about as good, all things considered. I mean, half of all love marriages fail. I wonder what the statistics are for arranged marriages. Probably hard to say given that they were in their peak in an era before the possibility of divorce was really widespread. These days, with younger people seemingly losing the ability to compromise, or to empathize, I fear the percentage of all marriages that fail will be on the rise. - Aug 1st, 2025