Akibiyori (Late Autumn) (1960)

100% of critics liked it
(15 reviews)
90% of users liked it
(686 ratings)

Director Yasujiro Ozu (1903-63) was famous for dramas which focused tightly on the character of family members and friends making sacrifices for one another's happiness. In Akibiyori, a still-beautiful widow has a daughter who is sufficiently past the favored age for marriage to be in danger of… More Director Yasujiro Ozu (1903-63) was famous for dramas which focused tightly on the character of family members and friends making sacrifices for one another's happiness. In Akibiyori, a still-beautiful widow has a daughter who is sufficiently past the favored age for marriage to be in danger of becoming an old maid according to the norms of Japanese culture. Three mature men, friends of the family, get together to discuss the widow and her problem daughter. Despite the fact that they each would like to marry the mother, they agree that one of them should make the sacrifice of marrying the daughter. They discuss their marriage idea with the mother, not the daughter (as is customary). Somehow, the girl hears of it, and is infuriated. She has said all along that though she wants to get married someday, she wants to remain single for some time longer. Now she is angry enough to threaten to accept the family friend's suit simply out of spite. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 11 min.
Directed By: Yasujiro Ozu
Written By: Ton Satomi, Kôgo Noda
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Oct 16, 1973 Wide
On DVD: Jun 12, 2007
Studio: CJ Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Fred Camper, Chicago Reader
I'm not the world's biggest Ozu fan, but this late work is one of his finest.
Nora Sayre, New York Times
The struggles between the generations pre-date the clashes of the late nineteen-sixties. However, Ozu's extraordinary sensitivity makes them deeply dramatic, all the more so because these gentle, reflective persons seem to have led unruffled lives.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Late Autumn lacks the sublime final moments of Late Spring, but Ozu seems more relaxed, more reflective and more in control here.
, Empire Magazine
Superb example of the gendai-geki brand of petit-bourgeois melodrama
Trevor Johnston, Time Out
Cinema that speaks to the soul.
Wendy Ide, Times [UK]
Formal and restrained - the sort of cinema that demurely keeps the audience at arm's length. But it has a mild humour.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
Another gem from the Ozu canon, a masterpiece of tendernesss and serio-comic charm, as tonally ambiguous and morally complex as anything he ever made.
David Parkinson, Radio Times
Confounding stylistic expectations, he experiments with a variety of transitional devices while structuring the narrative around blocks of linked scenes.
Leo Robson, Financial Times
It is a happy, handsome film, one of only five that Ozu made in colour.
Allan Hunter, Daily Express
A wry, melancholic look at post-war Japanese society.
Derek Malcolm, This is London
Another of Yashiru Ozu's late masterpieces, to be put beside Tokyo Story as a commentary on Japanese mores that surpass nationality and manage universal appeal.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A brilliantly conceived and acted melodramatic film filled with a quiet middle-class family's glow in love and conflict.
, Film4
A small, quiet but perfectly poised film about family relationships that distills Ozu's static style into an appealing and accessible comedy-drama.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
One of the final efforts from one of the great masters of Japanese cinema.

Read all 14 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Bob S

Rockin' color Ozu. So sweet.
Anthony L

Late Autumn follows familiar themes of Ozu's older work; family, sacrifice, ageing etc. It all sounds dreadfully depressing on paper but Ozu's brings it to life so beautifully. Ozu in colour is something to behold, he didn't seem to have any trouble at all in the… More
Late Autumn follows familiar themes of Ozu's older work; family, sacrifice, ageing etc. It all sounds dreadfully depressing on paper but Ozu's brings it to life so beautifully. Ozu in colour is something to behold, he didn't seem to have any trouble at all in the transition. Setsuko Hara is wonderful as always, this time playing the mother rather than the daughter (See Late Spring). The three old men playing cupid are great fun to watch but it is the cocky and abrupt Yukiko, brilliantly played by Mariko Okada who really steals the show. Typically brilliant, typically Ozu.
danny d

although this film is a reworking of ozu's 1949 film "early spring", it also bears some striking similarities to equinox flower in terms of theme, actors, and set designs which were identical in some cases. the film started slow and i was unsure how it would turn out,… More
although this film is a reworking of ozu's 1949 film "early spring", it also bears some striking similarities to equinox flower in terms of theme, actors, and set designs which were identical in some cases. the film started slow and i was unsure how it would turn out, by the end it had become an epic romantic drama that drew some strong emotion. unlike ozu's usual approach which focuses specifically on family strife, this film is about families but deals more with romance. the film also fuses comedy into the drama to a far greater degree than the typical ozu film causing me to laugh out loud on more than one occasion. a beautiful film.
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]"Late Autumn" starts at a remembrance on the sixth anniversary of the death of Akiko's(Setsuko Hara) husband which is also attended by her daughter Ayako(Yoko Tsukasa) and a trio of his closest friends who were smitten with Akiko before she married,… More
[font=Century Gothic]"Late Autumn" starts at a remembrance on the sixth anniversary of the death of Akiko's(Setsuko Hara) husband which is also attended by her daughter Ayako(Yoko Tsukasa) and a trio of his closest friends who were smitten with Akiko before she married, frequenting the pharmacy where she worked, going so far as to buy unnecessary medical supplies. As the evening wears on, the focus turns to Ayako who at the advanced age of 24 is still not married.(Her hesitancy comes from not wishing to abandon her mother.) So, the three friends snap into action with a search for a match but sadly, the first candidate is already engaged...[/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Late Autumn" is a touching and engaging if talky movie about moving on. That having been said, this reminds me too much of another of director Yasujiro Ozu's movies that I have seen to be considered anything more than just a variation on a theme.[/font]