I'll start off saying something about Good Morning that will sound like I'm putting it down, but I'm really not: the ingredients of the story (or stories if you want to get technical, there are sort of three running plot-lines here with characters all centered around several houses right below one of Ozu's quintessential small hills), in a lot of other's less imaginative or more hackneyed sensibilities, could have made for a sitcom. The stuff here isn't complicated, and as it starts, it all feels so... simple. All one is doing is seeing... a few kids, two of them brothers, who live ordinary lives, and their parents deal with ordinary problems like... well, did this person pay the dues owed to that other person and did the other woman use that money to get a *washing machine*? Good heavens, the scandal! That's the way I always come to Ozu's films, where it starts off and for at least the first twenty minutes to nearly half an hour, it feels like "nothing" is happening, but that's only because of expectations that come from seeing decades of movies where incident is supposed to happen, drama is supposed to escalate quickly, and those pesky lessons from screen writing classes get jammed down our throats. Good Morning doesn't do that; this is the kind of story where what would seem to be a moment of high dramatic conflict comes when the door-to-door salesman, hocking his wares of rubber bands and pencils (yes, *pencils*), drops by and makes the mother of the two boys a little uncomfortable, saying "We don't need anything." As it turns out, he's probably one of the nicest salesmen in the history of cinema.But I hope you can see what I mean if you watch this, or even read the synopsis, how the stuff of this story could have been used as parts for a sitcom type of scenario (Leave it to Beaver, mayhap?) While it should go without saying that the idea of, you know, buying a television being the central conflict and driving force of the two boys who decide to stage a hunger-and-or-"talking" strike (farts are okay though) may appear dated in a world where if one finds a home that does *not* have a TV (or a decent laptop or home projection system or who knows what else), the idea of encroaching technology is something that is universal. Certainly the parents are fine with them going to the movies (if they do, that never comes up), or something that's easy to take for granted like, you know, *electricity*, who why the problem with the TV? The distraction is part of it, maybe the key part for the mother (when will those pesky kids do their English homework?!), but it's also something a little deeper than that.Ozu's mastery here is to take parts that, again I must stress, seem not only like nothing extraordinary but precisely the stuff that families deal with day in and day out - down to one of those "life's little observation" things a stand-up like Seinfeld might point out, as in why people use those "good morning" "nice weather" observations as a way of masking how one really feels, say, to the woman that's a crush - but gives it a depth of feeling and subtlety that you grow to appreciate. Like with Tokyo Story, and a few others by this director, it suddenly hits you about half an hour in what Ozu is really trying to do here (for me it's when the kids throw their tantrum and decide to go on their speaking-strike, but, again, the farts are okay), and it becomes a richer experience, one that has a uniqueness despite seeming on the surface to be the stuff that people deal with day in and day out.That the movie is also funny is a plus, but it's not like a 'LOL' sort of scenario, you're not going to bust a gut exactly through this (though I found some hearty laughs with the kid, the son of that actress who is in a lot of Ozu movies as the bitchiest of the characters, I believe the more ungrateful daughter on Tokyo Story actually). No, this is a gentle comedy that relies a lot on behavior, a little repetition like the little (very cute) brother repeating everything his older brother does, and what are perceptive touches of social satire. It's such a realistically drawn film, even down to (yes, I must stress again) the fart jokes, that it may be lost on some, like those who would be fine with a typical sitcom for families, that there is commentary about how we live and adapt to changes, and the resistance is just as natural as the gradual acceptance of the change and how we use language (which I used to watch, a lot, I'm not kidding, this feels like something that could've been on Full House!)

Ozu said he wanted to make a film about people's inability to express the important things, but natter on about unimportant gossip. This all comes out thanks to two boys that really want a TV. They enter into a vow of silence until their TV comes. This silence is misconstrued by the neighbours, who think their mother is angry at them. They begin to gossip amongst themselves and rumors soon start. Meanwhile, the young boys' aunt and teacher are attracted, but fail to act on their emotions. This is a lovely little film, filled with some great humor. Though, I must admit, there was a bit too much focus on the poo/farts jokes. The two boys, especially the youngest, are very cute and make their efforts to get a TV seem less brattish. It's really sweet to see how dedicated the parents are, and even though the kids are kind of mean, they do appreciate the gift in the end. There's no escaping Ozu's look at the clashes between old and new, with the TV looming over all procedures as something that will change life. A little gem, if not one of Ozu's classics.

This is kind of a re-make of the excellent Ozu film from 1932 "I Was Born, But", but its centered around different values. That essential silent film from Ozu is about two brothers who are bullied and wonder about their status in life. This film is about the two boys wanting a television and their parents refusing. So, after screaming about it and the parents telling them they talk too much, they take on a vow of silence that extends to the neighbors in this suburban town in Japan and even in school. They can only watch TV at a young couple's house with the other neighborhood kids. They just want a television. This Ozu film is a slice of mostly a by gone era, when kids were able to just run around, the neighbors freely visit each other without calling first and values were much simpler. The acting is great, but what do you expect, it has Chisyu Ryu and Haruko Sugimura in it, two of Ozu's best actors. I would have liked to have seen Setsuko Hara as one of the housewives, but I guess she was not available. The acting by the kids, especially the brothers played by Koji Shidara and Masahiko Shimazu, is spot on. I wanted some things growing up and nagged my parents, who hasn't? Its a fun film about wanting something you don't have. Enjoy it, its another highly watchable Ozu film.

Last year NHK (national broadcaster in Japan) were playing 2 Ozu movies a night and I tuned into this by accident.Maybe because I have lived in Japan for 10 years and was watching it in it's native language and could understand the subtle nuances in the day-to-day conversation, or maybe simply because I related to the children, having grown up in a household where getting things that you actually want was very rare - quite simply, this movie moved me tremendously, the final scene brought tears to my eyes just *remembering* it a week later.This movie is probably most effective for anybody who grew up in a poor household with parents who tried their best against all odds to keep their children happy.