"We tend to make things complicated in life. Maybe life is simpler
than we think."

A couple of old men have to shoulder the responsibility of finding a
match for their late friend's even-now beautiful widow -- on whom they
themselves have had a crush on, and for whose affections they have
competed among themselves, since university days -- so that they can
convince her daughter, who refuses to get married so as to stay with
her widowed mother, to accept a good match, in order to fulfill their
duties as guardians of the young lady.

With such a premise, hilarity is bound to ensue, even in a Yasujiro
Ozu film.  I had a couple of good laughs, although this movie is
hardly a comedy in the usual sense. It is an Ozu film through and
through: the camera is the usual static observer, often pausing on
empty spaces; the story unfolds slowly and uneventfully, not unlike
life; the characters talk about things that have no bearing on the
plot, also not unlike life; etc. etc.

[9 July 2024]