Sanma no aji, considered as one of his masterpieces, is Ozu’s last film in his career. The title, Sanma no aji (秋刀魚の味), literally means the taste of pacific saury. However, throughout the film, sanma never appears. The only time sakana appears in the movie is the gathering of old students and the teacher, but still, that sakana is hamo, not sanma. Just like Ozu’s other films, such as Ochazuke no aji, the object in the title is simply a symbol which represents what Ozu wants to express. In the mid-Edo period, because of the innovation of catching skill, people could catch more sanma than before. It was not only cheap, but also tasty, so sanma became ordinary people’s food on the table. The most common way to cook sanma is grilling. Japanese people believe sanma would be tastier if it is grilled with its organ. Being grilled on the fire and having salt on the skin, sanma emits tasty aroma, while the organs are a little bitter so it is usually served with while radish sauce and soy sauce to refresh the taste. Besides, when talking about sanma, Japanese people would relate it to autumn, for in Japanese culture, sanma is a kind of fish that people usually have in autumn. Autumn usually gives a people a depressed and lonely feeling. The bitter but tasty taste in the autumn is what Ozu wants to refer in the movie.
Ozu is famous for his tatami-shot which he invented during his career. In tatami-shot, camera is usually placed at a low height, just like the height of a person kneeling on a tatami mat. Not only in the seating scenes, but also in regular scene, Ozu applies this kind of style to shooting, such as character walking down the hallways. Besides, Ozu is also well-known for his styles. He would make the cameras face at actors, instead of using a regular over-the-shoulder shots in dialogue scenes. Ozu also likes having same actors and actresses in his different movies. Between the scenes, Ozu did not use regular transactions like other directors did, instead, he would use a steady object between the transactions.
Illness and death, weddings and marriage, Ozu’s films are always about families, including Sanma no aji. The story of this film happens after Second Sino-Japanese War which ended in 1945 as the result of Japan’s surrender. After the war, everything in Japan went backwards, not only economy, but also life standard. Although Japanese people sacrificed so much in the war, they did not get anything back. In the movie, Sakamoto says, “I came home to a burned-down house, nothing to eat, and sky-high prices. I borrowed from my father-in-law to start the shop.” By saying that, Ozu shows audience about the hard lives for both Japanese retired soldiers and ordinary people. As a retired soldier, government should provide him with some kinds of welfare for the sacrifice he contributed to the country, but Japanese government did not. However, Ozu just had a light touch on the background. In this movie, he spends most of the time on describing and emphasizing daily events which seem unimportant and scattered but irreplaceable. The main plot of the story is that Hirayama (Father of Michiko) wants to arrange a marriage for Michiko. After the death of the mother (never shown in the movie), Michiko takes cares of the whole family and Hirayama has gotten used to this kind of life. When Hirayama drinks with his colleagues, his colleagues want to arrange a marriage for Michiko, but Hirayama refuses every time and he does not even know why. Once, when they have a gathering between them and their teacher. Their teacher gets drunk on the feast so Hirayama and one of his colleagues sends their teacher back. When they meet with their teacher’s daughter, who used to be young and beautiful, in the teacher’s house, Hirayama is surprised that the daughter never gets married and does not live in a good life. Therefore, Hirayama thinks about Michiko and wants to arrange a marriage for her because he does not want Michiko becomes the same as his teacher’s daughter. However, Michiko thinks Hirayama wants to kick her out of the family and she is sad about it. Ozu plays with the idea of causing conflicts between family characters and social relationships to present this film.
Movie starts with Hirayama working in the office. One of his colleagues comes in and asks him to go out for a drink. During the dinner, Hirayama and his other two colleague talk about the “medicine” for “that thing” which is ridiculous for their age to talk about this kind of childish topic. After Hirayama comes back home, Michiko handles Hirayama’s hat and handbag. This is the first time Michiko, the protagonist, appears in the movie, and she tries to arrange everything well for tomorrow. The way she talks and behaves indicates that she is responsible for taking care of the family. Although she refuses to pick his brother’s trousers up, it is assumed that she has done it before. Then, the camera moves to the normal conversation between Koichi (Hirayama’s son) and her wife in their apartment. After introducing all the major characters, Ozu shows us the daily life of everyone again, such as Michiko’s working, gathering of old colleagues and the teacher, and Hirayama’s sending back the drunk teacher which is the scene changes Hirayama’s mind about Michiko’s marriage.
If I have to choose an important scene to represent the theme of the film, it must be the bar scene when Shuhei Hirayama drinks with Sakamoto in the bar. The bar scene not only exists by itself, but also relates to the last scene in the movie when Hirayama drinks alone in the bar after Michiko’s wedding. While visiting his teacher, Hirayama meets a soldier who used to be his subordinate in the navy. At this point of the movie, Ozu finally tells us the career of Hirayama and slowly pushes the plot to develop. Sakamoto invites Hirayama to visit his family and also have a drink with him. However, after the transaction of the movie, Ozu plays his the well-known missing of events again. Instead of showing what happens in Sakamoto’s house, Ozu makes Hirayama say, “Is the girl I met at your house your only child?” to show the situation of Sakamoto as an ordinary soldier after the war. Sakamoto also expresses his thoughts on what would happen if Japan had won the war. He thinks if Japan had won the war, they would end up in New York now, his kids would not listen to American records and western people would learn how Japanese people live. By saying that, pride shows on Sakamoto’s face and this is the expectation from an ordinary soldier who attended the war. However, Hirayama says, “But I think it is good we lost.” Ozu used to be a soldier in the war, but he was forced by the government to join the war and he actually hate wars. It was hard for him to express his politic view in his movies, but he expressed his hatred towards the war by making Hirayama say this sentence which addresses his own thought. Then, the madam of the bar comes and plays the military song for them. Here, Sakamoto salutes and follows the music to swing with his pride of being a soldier. We can clearly tell that the salutes of Sakamoto and Hirayama are not standard, probably means the weakness of Japanese army, but Sakamoto still tries to correct the posture of the madam. After coming back home, Hirayama tells his children that he meets a woman at a small bar and she looks just like their mother. Hirayama also addresses they can go together one day. During the conversation, Ozu tells audience the existence of mother who should be responsible to take care of the whole family. However, as mother had passed away, it is now Michiko’s job to take care of the family but the theme is that Hirayama wants to make Michiko marry so it brings up the conflict of the family.
Tokyo Story, Ozu’s most famous masterpiece, and Sanma no aji are similar on both content and technique but slightly different. Sanma no aji is a story of the marriage of Michiko and the conflicts around the marriage but Tokyo story is about the visiting of parents from Japan rural area to Tokyo. Although they are different, both Tokyo story and Sanma no aji represent Japanese people’s life after the war. By showing us the story, Ozu expresses his attitude towards the war, “But I think it is good we lost.” In both movies, Ozu applies his famous tatami-shot. However, there is a tracking shot in Tokyo when Shukichi and Tomi are in the Ueno Station. In addition, Ozu also has the idea of “visible and invisible” in both movies. In Sanma no aji, the wedding is not presented. As an audience, we do not know how Michiko wedding look like or even who she marries, but we know the wedding exists. In Tokyo Story, when Shukichi and Tomi are standing in the Ueno station, Tomi says, “How big the Tokyo is. If we get lost, we would never come back.” In both scenes, Ozu does not show us the wedding or how big the Tokyo is, instead, he wants audience to pay more attention on the events, such as sadness of the parents leaving their children.
