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Based on three short stories by writer Fumiko Hayashi, “Late Chrysanthemums” traces the lives of four former geishas and the people around them in post-war Japan, a time when the local economy was still struggling but gradually beginning to recover. The story unfolds over a period of four days.

Late Chrysanthemums is screening at Metrograph as part of the Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us program

Kin, the most financially successful of the group, has become a ruthless moneylender and real estate speculator. Though materially secure, she is emotionally isolated and embittered, having sacrificed love and motherhood for independence. Her attempts to reconnect with the past, including a visit from a former lover and an encounter with an obsessive ex-client, only reaffirm her disillusionment.

Tamae and Tomi, both widowed, share a small home and rely on each other for emotional support. Tamae struggles with migraines that often prevent her from working as a maid,...

It’s Yasujiro Ozu in light mode, except that his insights into the human social mechanism make this cheerful neighborhood comedy as meaningful as his dramas. Two boys go on a ‘talk strike’ because they want a television set, a choice that has an effect on everyone around them. And what can you say about a movie with running jokes about flatulence . . . and is still a world-class classic?

Good Morning

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 84

1959 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 94 min. / ohayo / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 16, 2017 / 39.95

Starring: Keiji Sada, Yoshiko Kuga, Chishu Ryu, Kuniko Miyake, Haruko Sugimura, Koji Shitara, Masahiko Shimazu, Isamu Hayashi, Kyoko Izumi, Toyo Takahashi, Sadako Sawamura, Eijiro Tono.

Cinematography: Yushun Atsuta

Film Editor: Yoshiyasu Hamamura

Original Music: Toshiro Mayuzumi

Written by Yasujiro Ozu, Kogo Noda

Produced by Shizuo Yamanouchi

Directed by Yasujiro Ozu

Ozu’s Good Morning is a straight-out delight, being both inconsequential and insightful.

"Romanian films set in the era after the fall of Communism suggest the nation suffers a hell of a hangover from the ideology," writes Steve Erickson in Gay City News. "For instance, Corneliu Porumboiu's Police, Adjective attacks draconian drug laws left over from the old regime. Tuesday, After Christmas presents a very different vision of Romania. Its characters can afford to buy expensive Christmas gifts; one of them picks up a 3,300 Euro telescope. It may not be entirely accurate to call the film apolitical, but the most political thing about it is its avoidance of Eastern European miserabilism and its depiction of people who could be living much the same lifestyles in Western Europe."

Damon Smith introduces an interview with director Radu Muntean for Filmmaker: "Tuesday, After Christmas, which premiered at Cannes last year, opens on a dreamy scene: sunlight bathes a naked couple, middle-aged Paul (Mimi Branescu) and pretty,...