gavin6942 Two boys begin a silence strike to press their parents into buying them a television set.Despite Ozu's reputation in the West as an austere and refined director, "Good Morning" does not shy away from depicting many of the neighborhood boys' flatulence jokes! Television broadcasting in Japan started in 1950, making the country one of the first in the world with an experimental television service. Cable television was introduced to Japan in 1955, in Shibukawa, Gunma Prefecture. This makes the story very timely. While considered a loose remake of Ozu's own earlier work, introducing TV as a part of the plot was very much a part of its time.

princebansal1982 This is another gem from the master filmmaker. Though it is somewhat different from other Ozu films that it is centered around kids rather than the parents and it is a light comedy film rather than a dramatic one, it is still as marvelous as Ozu's Tokyo Story.Though I have seen movies by other great directors that handle kids really well, Vittoria Di Sica and Satyajit Ray come to mind, they did in a more dramatic fashion. This is much more close to life. It is an ordinary story but told in an extraordinary manner.It is full of amazing characters, whether it is the knife wielding, muttering grandma, the two kids around which the story revolves, the two salesmen or the English teacher. Rarely have I seen a film in which so many minor characters leave such impressions.When I think about it I can't find any fault with the movie, so this movies get a 10 from me. Must See for all cinephiles.

GyatsoLa Ozu's films always balance humour, heartbreak and social comment - in this film the balance is decidedly in favour of humour. Its hard to imagine a slighter story to build a full movie - two little boys who decide not to speak for a few days in a huff over being denied a TV. But Ozu builds a whole world out of this dull little suburb in a Japan just getting on its feet after the war and embracing consumerism as an alternative to..... well, whatever went before.I think only Ozu could make boring mass produced housing look so utterly gorgeous in full colour, and the minor bickering of the household ladies seem so important. He's helped by a fantastic cast, especially the child actors playing the little boys (oddly enough, there doesn't seem to be any little girls in this suburb). The story has layer up layer of irony (aided by numerous fart jokes) built up upon its slight foundations making an utterly fascinating film. As usual with Ozu, he doesn't lecture, although as always his sympathy is slightly tilted to the somewhat bemused father figures. Even the simple ending, a shot of laundry fluttering on a line, seems somehow laden with meaning. The whole film is a pure delight.

dr_foreman Over the past several months, I've evolved into a full-blown devotee of the Japanese film director Yasujiro Ozu. Just when I was tiring of the phoniness, violence and excess of contemporary American movies, I discovered Ozu's quiet (but by no means boring) films and was deeply impressed by his insights into human emotion, family relationships and society.But while Ozu films like Late Spring and Tokyo Story are clearly masterpieces, Good Morning is not his usual fare. Unlike Ozu's weightier dramas, this film focuses a lot on seemingly trivial matters like suburban gossip and, believe it or not, schoolboy farting competitions. At first, I wasn't sure exactly what to think of Good Morning - the lack of a strong central plot and apparent silliness of the themes initially put me off somewhat.However, by the time I was done watching Good Morning, I realized that Ozu was even cleverer and more subtle than I had previously thought. You see, while Good Morning appears to be a light comedy on the surface, it actually has a lot of perceptive things to say about materialism, envy and the unfortunate superficiality of most human communication. (A major theme of the film is that people are good at saying trivial things to each other - such as the title phrase - but not good at saying emotional things that really matter.) So, this movie is definitely deeper than it appears to be at first glance. As a viewer, I could both chuckle immaturely at the fart jokes and appreciate the film's deeper social commentary at the same time. It's rare indeed to find a film that offers up both crass humor and spiritual insight, but Good Morning somehow pulls off that remarkable trick. Although there are better Ozu films than this one, Good Morning is another solid entry in his amazing body of work - and its unusual subject matter helps to disprove the somewhat silly stereotype that every Ozu film was about a distinguished father trying to marry off his daughter.