Late Autumn / A Mother Should Be Loved (Region B)

Comedy turns to pathos in Yasujiro Ozu's tale of a group of businessmen who conspire to match-make for a widow and her daughter

When college nostalgia inspires a group of middle-aged businessmen to match-make for the widow – played with measured dignity by Setsuko Hara (Tokyo Story) – of one of their friends and her daughter, they have no idea of the strife their careless interference will cause. Late Autumn's examination of familial upheaval moves effortlessly from comedy to pathos and is amongst the finest of legendary director Yasujiro Ozu's post-war films.

Included here is the surviving version of Ozu's moving silent drama A Mother Should Be Loved. Missing both first and last reels the incomplete film nevertheless achieves a dramatic intensity in its portrayal of Sadao, a young man struggling to deal with a disturbing family secret.