Ozu’s best nansensu comedy mostly features the foibles of two young brothers just deposited in a suburb where the native boys are hostile towards them. There is an underdeveloped counterpoint with the boys’ father and his relationship to his boss, but while the visuals and editing connect the A and B plots, the script — which is not by Noda — does not really manage to do this until the end of the film. 

As always Ozu nails the ending,…

The 4K DCP is stunning to behold and the audio is so beautifully rendered in the academy’s globe theater. I hadn’t seen this on the big screen in about ten years when the academy ran it at the more intimate herrick library screening room, then it was a beautiful new 35mm print. The 4k feels like film, it’s only the rock steady perfection of it gives it away.

The film remains one of my favorites, so layered and fascinating, much…

Early live action technicolor short demonstrating the three-color process in a tworeel fable about a spectacle maker who invents a glass that shows everything to be beautiful and then a glass that shows the truth of everything — the latter of course gets him in trouble. Acted with all the stiff bombast of mediocre vaudeville, it isn’t very good if technically impressively appointed with costumes and bright colors.  It’s also striking how much the titular maker looks and sounds like…