A Story of Floating Weeds / Floating Weeds Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

A Story of Floating Weeds / Floating Weeds Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 20, 2024

Yasujiro Ozu's "A Story of Floating Weeds" (1934) and "Floating Weeds" (1959) arrive on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include archival audio commentary by film historian Donald Richie; archival audio commentary by Roger Ebert; and vintage trailer. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. Region-A "locked".

An acting troupe arrives in a small and sleepy town and its leader, Komajuro Arashi (Ganjiro Nakamura, The Lower Depths), immediately arranges to meet the owner of a sake bar with whom years ago he had a son. Because he could only occasionally visit, Kiyoshi (Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Giants and Toys) was told by his mother Oyoshi (Haruko Sugimura, Late Chrysanthemums) that Komajuro was his uncle.

In the days that follow, Komajuro’s mistress, Sumiko (Machiko Kyo, The Loyal 47 Ronin), notices that he spends a lot of time with Oyoshi and then accidentally discovers that the two had a son. Barely able to contain her anger, she asks the young and stunningly beautiful actress Kayo (Ayako Wakao, Red Angel) to seduce Kiyoshi. At first Kayo refuses, fearing that Komajuro will fire her if he finds out, but then reluctantly agrees. When she approaches Kiyoshi he falls madly in love with her, and eventually vows to spend the rest of his life with her.

Slowly beginning to realize the consequences of her actions, Kayo begs Kiyoshi to forget about her, but he goes before his mother and Komajuro and announces that he wants to begin a new life with the girl of his dreams. The confession enrages Komajuro, and he immediately proceeds to punish Kayo for destroying his son’s life. When she reveals to him that she was asked to seduce Kiyoshi, Komajuro also condemns Sumiko and then disbands the troupe. Meanwhile, Oyoshi finally reveals to Kiyoshi that Komajuro is his father, but the boy rejects him and warns him not to treat Kayo as he did his mother when he was young.

Yasujirô Ozu’s Floating Weeds is a simple, notably quiet film. As is the case with many of the director's famous films, in it the camera simply observes the main characters from afar as they deal with the issues that affect their relationships.

Even though different parts of Floating Weeds produce important revelations, there are no powerful climaxes. The camera remains static, primarily at floor level, carefully observing but not interfering. The approach allows the viewer to witness a series of events and contemplate their importance, rather than simply judge the characters involved with them as they interact with each other.

The different themes that are tackled are universal in nature. The dilemmas the main characters face are very familiar because all of them appear during different stages of life and in one way or another everyone must deal with them. Naturally, there is nothing unique about the small triumphs and failures the main characters experience.

The manner in which Ozu captures them, however, is what makes Floating Weeds so fascinating to behold. Its simplicity keeps Floating Weeds firmly grounded in reality and allows the viewer to experience the essence of life as a journey.

Floating Weeds is based on a script by Kogo Noda (Tokyo Story) and it is a remake of Ozu’s silent film The Story of Floating Weeds (1934). It was lensed by the great Japanese cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa (Rashomon, Ugetsu).

*Criterion's release offers a presentation of A Story of Floating Weeds which can be viewed with a music score that Donald Sosin created for the label in 2004. A note on the release clarifies that "the style of the score reflects Yasujiro Ozu's fondness for the music of Robert Schumann, and the director's point of view that musical underscoring need not be strictly tied to the action or even the emotions of the film."

A Story of Floating Weeds / Floating Weeds Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Floating Weeds arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. (Also included on this release is A Story of Floating Weeds, which Yasujiro Ozu remade as Floating Weeds).

The release introduces a recent 4K restoration of Floating Weeds that is quite frustrating. Why? It changes the old appearance of the film rather dramatically. For example, all of the prominent blues that can be seen on the previous presentation of the film are replaced with different ranges of grays that reset the color temperature of entire sequences. I have never seen the film look like this before. Elsewhere, reds are affected by the regrading as well. Most reds now have a dark orange/brownish appearance, which is clearly introduced by the overall shift in color temperature. I feel that in some areas green and green nuances are better reproduced on the new presentation, but the loss of primary blue and blue nuances remains a big issue. Delineation, clarity, and sharpness appear to have been improved. However, in quite a few areas background information is oddly flat. I assume that the changes in color balance are responsible because it is very easy to see that the dynamic range of the visuals is not as consistent as it needs to be. (When color changes and are made and the dynamic range of the visuals affected, flatness like the one that is present here can often be observed). Image stability is very good. The surface of the visuals is healthy as well. All in all, while there are some undeniable improvements, I find the restoration unconvincing and in some ways even problematic. My score is 3.75/5.00.

A Story of Floating Weeds has a much rougher appearance, but this is hardly surprising given the quality of the surviving elements. While pleasing, most visuals convey average delineation, clarity, and depth. There are some small stability issues as well. The surface of the visuals reveals minor age-related imperfections as well, though it is easy to see that work has been done to make them as attractive as possible. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

A Story of Floating Weeds / Floating Weeds Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Music DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 for A Story of Floating Weeds and Japanese LPCM 1.0 for Floating Weeds. Optional English subtitles are provided for both films.

Obviously, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track replicates a studio recording of Donald Sosin's exclusive piano score, which means that its dynamic range is as intended. The LPCM 1.0 track has obvious inherited limitations, too. However, on it there are small traces of age-related imperfections as well. Clarity is not affected, but if you turn up the volume of your system a bit more than usual, you will notice some inconsistencies in the upper register. Nevertheless, I think that its overall quality is very good.

A Story of Floating Weeds / Floating Weeds Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

A STORY OF FLOATING WEEDS

• Commentary - this archival audio commentary was recorded by film historian Donald Richie for the Criterion Collection in 2003.

FLOATING WEEDS

• Commentary - this archival audio commentary was recorded by film critic Roger Ebert for the Criterion Collection in 2003.

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage trailer for Floating Weeds. In Japanese, with English subtitles. (3 min).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by Donald Richie and technical credits.

A Story of Floating Weeds / Floating Weeds Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Having A Story of Floating Weeds and its remake Floating Weeds presented together makes it easy to recommend this upcoming Blu-ray release. However, I find the recent 4K restoration of the latter unconvincing, in some areas even problematic, because it introduces some pretty dramatic color changes. If you have an older release of Floating Weeds in your collection, my advice is to keep it because you may conclude that it offers a more satisfying presentation of it. RECOMMENDED.