The Golden Country (Good Morning 1959)

Yesterday I had the chance to see "Good Morning", a film by Ozu released in 1959. All in all, as I was driving along the freeway on my way to work, I mused that it was a fairly innocuous film. It somehow lacked the psychological depth that I appreciated in other Ozu films, but it was nonetheless an enjoyable work that hearkens back to a time that is much sentimentalized by all of us. This is, of course, our youth.

It details the exploits of a pair of brothers who decide to protest after being scolded by their parents. They live in what would seem to be a suburban Japanese development but without the space that we associate with American suburbs. They houses are closely clustered and, indeed, are adjoining each other. In one instance, an elderly man who is unemployed actually steps into the house of his neighbor, confusing it with his. Given that traditional Japanese doors consist of sliding screens, it is not too unremarkable that he is easily able to gain entrance.

The behavior of the children can't help but recall all of our own childhood foibles. It is also noteworthy that the film is neatly marked by bookends that are comprised of characters at both ends of human life. The old grandmother who forgets to give her daughter the money that was left with her for safeguarding also seems somewhat petulant, and she is similarly treated with a lack of dignity. This, this, is an experience that recurs within the human lifespan.

I am struck by the idyllic tone of the film. While there are a few characters who appear to suffer, such as the elderly man alluded to above who has lost his job and is unable to survive on his pension, or the young and dashing man who translates manuscripts after losing his own job, there seems to be no overt display of social commentary. The conflict that does exist is more along the lines of cultural behavior, and the community otherwise seems quite orderly, characterized as it is by the extreme politeness of the Japanese.

The boys decide to mount a strike. They will not speak, and they maintain this stance for what seems to be maybe a day or two. There are many comical episodes, and this silence contributes as well to conflict between neighbors, but otherwise it is quite innocent and, in this case, innocence is the quality that the director seems to be cultivating.

It reminds one of a rosy view of childhood, sans humiliation, bullying and desperation. These kids, after all, are leading a comfortable middle-class existence in a Japan that is in full reconstruction, on its way to the Japanese miracle. And this film can't help but evoke a sense of nostalgia for a childhood that never was, but that is nonetheless intensely desired.

The film doesn't hit the notes that other Ozu films do. There is none of the subtlety and none of the sense of family roles that are shifting in response to social changes. Things are stable, and there is none of the sadness and the self-reflective quality that I have seen in so many of his other films.

All in all, it was an innocuous film, one that incorpates good-natured jokes involved flatulence and a lack of bladder control. These are touches that can't help but evoke the current trend of Judd Apatow films that are so popular nowadays, and that represent a continuation from the "American Pie" franchise that first appeared in the 1990s.

One wonders now about how accurate our perception of time has become. The hues of this film, and the wide-open scenes, suggest an airiness that suggest, as in all Ozu films, meditation and an uncluttered mind.

I wish my childhood had been like that portrayed here.