Over the past several months, I've evolved into a full-blown devotee of the Japanese film director Yasujiro Ozu. Just when I was tiring of the phoniness, violence and excess of contemporary American movies, I discovered Ozu's quiet (but by no means boring) films and was deeply impressed by his insights into human emotion, family relationships and society.
But while Ozu films like Late Spring and Tokyo Story are clearly masterpieces, Good Morning is not his usual fare. Unlike Ozu's weightier dramas, this film focuses a lot on seemingly trivial matters like suburban gossip and, believe it or not, schoolboy farting competitions. At first, I wasn't sure exactly what to think of Good Morning - the lack of a strong central plot and apparent silliness of the themes initially put me off somewhat.
However, by the time I was done watching Good Morning, I realized that Ozu was even cleverer and more subtle than I had previously thought. You see, while Good Morning appears to be a light comedy on the surface, it actually has a lot of perceptive things to say about materialism, envy and the unfortunate superficiality of most human communication. (A major theme of the film is that people are good at saying trivial things to each other - such as the title phrase - but not good at saying emotional things that really matter.)
So, this movie is definitely deeper than it appears to be at first glance. As a viewer, I could both chuckle immaturely at the fart jokes and appreciate the film's deeper social commentary at the same time. It's rare indeed to find a film that offers up both crass humor and spiritual insight, but Good Morning somehow pulls off that remarkable trick.
Although there are better Ozu films than this one, Good Morning is another solid entry in his amazing body of work - and its unusual subject matter helps to disprove the somewhat silly stereotype that every Ozu film was about a distinguished father trying to marry off his daughter.
But while Ozu films like Late Spring and Tokyo Story are clearly masterpieces, Good Morning is not his usual fare. Unlike Ozu's weightier dramas, this film focuses a lot on seemingly trivial matters like suburban gossip and, believe it or not, schoolboy farting competitions. At first, I wasn't sure exactly what to think of Good Morning - the lack of a strong central plot and apparent silliness of the themes initially put me off somewhat.
However, by the time I was done watching Good Morning, I realized that Ozu was even cleverer and more subtle than I had previously thought. You see, while Good Morning appears to be a light comedy on the surface, it actually has a lot of perceptive things to say about materialism, envy and the unfortunate superficiality of most human communication. (A major theme of the film is that people are good at saying trivial things to each other - such as the title phrase - but not good at saying emotional things that really matter.)
So, this movie is definitely deeper than it appears to be at first glance. As a viewer, I could both chuckle immaturely at the fart jokes and appreciate the film's deeper social commentary at the same time. It's rare indeed to find a film that offers up both crass humor and spiritual insight, but Good Morning somehow pulls off that remarkable trick.
Although there are better Ozu films than this one, Good Morning is another solid entry in his amazing body of work - and its unusual subject matter helps to disprove the somewhat silly stereotype that every Ozu film was about a distinguished father trying to marry off his daughter.