The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice

Director - Yasujiro Ozu

Cast -  Shin Saburi, Michiyo Kogure

Country of Origin - Japan

Distributor - Criterion

Number of discs –  1

Reviewed by - Scott MacDonald

Date- 08/26/2019

   I came late to the works of Yasujiro Ozu. I had heard of his works prior to seeing them, but after reading a bit more about him in Donald Richie's amazing 100 Years of Japanese Cinema, I began to seek out the director's work, like Floating Weeds, Tokyo Story, and Late Spring. His work so simple, yes so effective was addicting, and I found myself going back to his work quite often for a time.  There are many films of his that I have not yet seen, one of which is being released by Criterion this month (August 2019), The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice.

    The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice details the arranged marriage of urban Taeko, with the simple rural-minded Mokichi. As the film begins their marriage has been in progress for some time, and neither of the pair feel an obvious affinity toward one another.  Taeko looks upon  Mokichi as simple, and quite thick. Mokichi looks at her as if she is too complex for his personal needs. Early on Taeko lies to her husband about needing to visit a famiy friend who is ill. She actually goes to a hot spring with her lady friends, one of which is her "officially" 21 year old niece, Setsuko, who has rejected the concept of an arranged marriage due to the obvious misery of her Aunt and Uncle.   Setsuko offers an interesting contrast to the older couple and their ways.

   This film has obvious parallels to other Ozu films like Early Spring and What Did the Lady Forget? (included as an extra in this set).  The performances are subtle, yet, powerful. Ozu's direction takes on more of a life here while he does many of his standard simple, yet effective set ups. He does ending up using the zoom in ways to accent certain actions and set pieces, and knowing the limitations of his style, it makes these moments all the more powerful.

    Criterion presents The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice in a splendid 1:37:1 1080p transfer taken from a new 4K scan. Everything here looks quite excellent with fine detail, and excellent contrast. Audio is handled by an LPCM 1.0 track in Japanese, which sounds solid, and conveys the audio quite clearly. Extras include the Ozu feature What Did the Lady Forget? A featurette on Ozu and his long time screenwriting partner, and a video essay. Criterion's Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice is a fantastic Blu-ray release for an oft-overlooked Ozu film, and easily comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.