When one goes beyond the overall simplicity of the films directed by Ozu, he will discover great sophistication in the construction and the meaning of the play. Schilling (2013) asserts that in most of Ozu’s plays, the subtle treatments of his interrelated themes seem to revolve around family responsibility, aging, and loneliness. Loneliness has been the key theme in almost every film as the family struggle to make ends meet and live in happiness. In his artistic competency, Ozu makes his audience to fee immensely about the loneliness of his characters, and he accomplishes this through being honest and not manipulating the audience (Bellamy & Howard, 2010). Both Autumn Afternoon and Tokyo Story depict the theme of loneliness in various scenes. Tokyo story and An Autumn Afternoon are perfectly composed and presented movies on a thoroughly honest yet complex family movies that Ozu has used to adequately to reflects his level of loneliness.
Based on the ideas of Schilling (2013), we are able to understand that what is most important to consider when discussing the theme of loneliness by Ozu in the two movies is that they are expressive in a manner few other films could hope to accomplish. The distance he creates between characters through the framing of the actors and positioning of scenery in the frame is magnificent in emphasizing the aspect of loneliness. In Tokyo Story, the heart-rending drama of two elderly parents is shown leaving their village to visit their indifferent grown-up children living in the city (Ozu, 1953). The fact that the two older parents are heading to the city to visit their children; it is a clear indication that they felt very lonely without the company of their children thus took the initiative to find them (Schilling, 2013). In a deceptively straightforward presentation of the standard event, Ozu was able to draw deeper wellsprings of emotions that engulfed the two elderly parents. Parents and children are strangers to one another in this film, destined to disappoint and frustrate each other while at the same time; the parents expect too much from their children; children neglect to honor and care for their parents. The children move to the city to in search of a better life and leave the parents in the village which widen their relationships because they could hardly see or visit each other. In a fallen world, these are sadly often true and have led to more stress and loneliness among the parents. On the other hand, in Autumn Afternoon Ozu touches upon the theme of loneliness through his characters, for instance, through Hirayama who was a widower living alone and contentedly with his daughter and youngest son in somehow a lonely life (Ozu, 1962).
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According to Ozu (1953), in Tokyo Story, the father, comments at one point “A married daughter is a perfect stranger.” In saying this, the father was trying to illustrate the situation that follows once their daughter is married off. Marriage was considered as a unique even that created happiness to certain group of individuals and sorrow to another group. In the movie, An Autumn Afternoon, Michiko confessed that her father cried twice during her wedding day which I believe was the emotional climax of the film (Ozu, 1953). In this case, it became clear that marriage brought about mixed emotions as the parents of the bride are left wondering and imagining how life would be without their daughter as is the case in the two films. Bellamy & Howard, (2010) asserts that, when Michiko was dressed in her traditional bridal costume, kept wondering what her parents were thinking. Initially, Michiko had proposed to her family that there was no need for her getting married since she believed that her brother and father could not manage without her and will suffer from an intense stress and loneliness in her absence. Ozu (1953) in Tokyo Story highlights that finally, Michiko had to comply with the wishes of her father and get married though she preferred to remain unmarried in order to care for him. However, it was clear that whoever she was being married to was never an issue but who she was leaving behind. The scene of separation of the daughter from her family was as close as Ozu came to violence. Arguably, there was no proof that the father and daughter had shared significantly love, however, throughout this scene, the two were settled into some form of a fixed existence, and the aspect of marriage had ruptured it (Bellamy & Howard, 2010).
Tokyo Story is a sad movie that brings out the theme of loneliness-not primarily because of the foreseeable death of one of the parents near the end, but because of what it suggests about parents and children (Ozu, 1953). In an Autumn Afternoon was precisely made during the year when his mother died thus making the movie one of his intensely personal work of loneliness. Death has been associated with more profound emotions of loneliness, and this was brought about by the death of his mother. Therefore, it becomes apparent that the film, An Autumn Afternoon revolves around the fear of loneliness and the loneliness itself. According to Schilling (2013), in a simplistic approach, Ozu focuses on the theme of loneliness between the father and daughter, bringing out a more excellent emotional movie.
Tokyo Story emerges to be one of the poignant tales of the older parents, their grown children, in addition to the problematic relationships between them. The problematic relation apparently is one of the contributing factors of the loneliness of the parents. Schilling (2013) claims that from the film Tokyo Story, we learn that the sons and daughters are seemingly respectful; however, they seem to be mostly too busy to spend time with their parents, and this aspect makes them lonely living alone in the village. The relationships are polite but at the same time cold. Parental disappointment in offspring and loneliness are the consistent theme throughout this quiet family drama. The father confesses to a friend that he thought his eldest son was a successful doctor with a significant city practice, not, as he discovered, just a neighborhood family doctor (Smith, 2010). Later on, the father noted that his eldest daughter, Shige was shrill, unkind, and very impatient. This was evident in the manner in which she only cared for herself as seen in the day together with Kōichi paid for their parents' stay at a hot spring spa at Atami but when they returned, Shige explained that she had to send them to Atami since she wanted to utilize their bedroom for a meeting. In An Autumn Afternoon, the primary relationship being focused is father and daughter relationships (Ozu, 1962). Father and daughter relationship is on the other hand relatively contemporary and relative. The father became alcoholic and visited cheap bars with a suburban atmosphere where the proprietress often reminded him of his late wife which ultimately brings an idea of loneliness after the death of his wife.
In An Autumn Afternoon, the final image of Ozu brings to an end the film and his career. There is further a case where a drunk Shuhei mumbled to himself "Now I'm all alone” immediately before the movie is cut to a sequence of the interior shots of what can be arguably be considered as the isolated home (Schilling, 2013). Finally, the film An Autumn Afternoon concludes with the final image of Shuhei standing alone, poured tea then proceeded to sit down which creates one of the unforgettable final images that immaculately portrayed the emotion of loneliness. In Tokyo Story, the memorable line was spoken towards the end where a friend told Hirayama how parents struggle so hard in bringing up their children but later to witness them leave into a new family (Ozu, 1953). Hirayama thinks that sons are better than daughters, but he is told that sons too will leave us someday. Human tend to be married and have children of their own with the hope that accomplishing such things will result into happiness, but in the end, it only makes us sad. So, why do we chose to do something if, in the end, it is going to take us back to where we are, feeling lonely and sad.
In conclusion, Ozu has done a greater work in his two movies, Tokyo story and in Autumn Afternoon in bringing out his level of loneliness. The theme of loneliness is thus common in the two films as presented by various characters thus making them share certain factors that revolve around loneliness in common. Ozu takes the audience through various interesting scenes that depicts his loneliness as brought out by the characters. From the two films, it has been shown that marriage was one of the primary events that led to the loneliness feeling to the families because; it meant their daughter leaving them to start her new family.
References
Bellamy , J., & Howard , E., (2010). The Conversations: An Autumn Afternoon. Retrieved from https://www.slantmagazine.com/house/article/the-conversations-an-autumn- afternoon
Ozu, Y., (1953). Tokyo Story. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCh4WRDVzyY
Ozu, Y., (1962). An Autumn Afternoon. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdNvHvVmi3g
Schilling , M., (2013). Re-examining Yasujiro Ozu on film. Retrieved from https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2013/12/07/films/re-examining-yasujiro- ozu-on-film/
Smith , M., (2010). A Tokyo Story. Retrieved from
http://socialistreview.org.uk/344/tokyo-story
