May 14
'The Only Son' – A mother and son reunion in 1936 Japan on HBO Max and Criterion Channel
The Only Son (Japan, 1936) is on the tragic end of the spectrum of Yasujiro Ozu‘s cinema, a drama of disappointment in an era of economic hard times, where the only thing worse that professional failure is failing to live up to parental expectations. Disappointment seems inevitable from the quote that opens the film: “Life’s tragedy begins with the bonding of child and parent. Widowed mother…