Yasujiro Ozu's elegiac final film charts the inevitable eclipse of older generations by irreverent youth.

Revisiting the story of his earlier masterpiece Late Spring (1949), Ozu once again casts Chishu Ryu in the role of Hirayama, the concerned father to unmarried Michiko. Harangued on all sides to marry off Michiko, Hirayama reluctantly prepares to bid his old life farewell.

A cast of tragi-comic characters weaves seamlessly through this gently satirical portrayal of life's inevitable, endless cycle. Especially remarkable is the exquisitely subtle palette; interiors, costumes and props together produce a becalmed muted beauty, enhanced by occasional splashes of red.

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