The crowning achievement by Japan's great master of the warp and woof of real life. Unpretentious, undramatic, subtle, sensitive, realistic, warm, tender, touching, insightful...all these describe what he presents us on the screen. Powerful emotional forces are driving events here but they are all subliminal, all hidden beneath a surface of polite congeniality.
The fate of the aging couple who come to realize that their life's effort, the raising of their four children...has been something of a failure...is agonizing for us to witness. In a final ironic turn their daughter-in-law turns out to be the only person in their family who is a decent, caring, loving person and she seems to be fated for a lonely, sad life.
"Life is disappointing, isn't it? Yes, it is."
One of the great works of world cinema.
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