Another welcome Ozu pairing from the BFI.
Equinox Flower was his first in colour, an ironic comedy about inter-generational conflict. In it, a father objects to his daughter’s fiancé but she outwits him at every turn.
In There Was A Father, a dad lectures his son on selflessness and duty. Japan’s authoritarian wartime ethos casts a heavy shadow.
This is the version censored by the post-war US authorities, so the original was probably even more sententious...
