One of Yasujirô Ozu’s most beautiful domestic sagas, The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice, a subtly piercing portrait of a marriage coming quietly undone, will be released on BFI Blu-ray in a Dual Format Edition on 18 May 2020, and simultaneously available to stream or buy via iTunes and Amazon Prime.
The film will then be available on BFI Player from 5 June 2020 within a collection of 25 Yasujirô Ozu films released on BFI Player’s Subscription service as part of JAPAN 2020, a major new BFI season launching this month.
Secrets and deceptions strain the already tenuous relationship of a childless, middle aged couple, as the wife’s city bred sophistication clashes with the husband’s small town simplicity, and a generational sea change in the form of their headstrong, modern niece sweeps over their household.
Ozu’s expert grasp of family dynamics receives one of its most spirited treatments, with a wry, tender humour and an expansiveness that moves the action from the home, to the baseball stadiums and the shops of post-war Tokyo.
Special Features:
- Re-mastered at 4K and presented in High Definition for the first time in the UK
- Feature-length audio commentary by critic and Asian-cinema expert Tony Rayns
- Alternative unrestored audio track
- The Mystery of Marriage (1932, 34 mins): educational filmmaker and pioneering female director Mary Field draws peculiar and poignant parallels between the mating rituals of humans, animals and mould in this eccentric, entertaining educational film
- The Good Housewife ‘In Her Kitchen’ (1949, 9 mins): the fourth wall is shattered in this imaginative public information film, filled with good advice for kitchen users – whether they have a refrigerator or not
- *** First pressing only*** Illustrated booklet with an extended archival essay by Tom Milne, notes on the special features and credits
Product Details:
Japan / 1952 / black and white / 116 minutes / Japanese language, with English subtitles / original aspect ratio 1.33:1 / Disc 1: BD50, 1080p, 24fps, PCM 1.0 mono audio (48kHz/24-bit) / DVD9: PAL 25fps, Dolby Digital 1.0 mono audio (192kbps)
