_{Day 31 of Project Glowing Rectangle, in which I try to divert some of my daily doomscrolling time back towards a more nourishing oblong: Cinema.}

Title: The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Writer: Kogo Noda, Yasujiro Ozu
Year: 1952
Country: Japan

Format: Blu-ray
Length: 115 minutes
Seen: 7 January 2026
First viewing

Today’s film was The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice (1952)—yep, it’s another Ozu family drama! He was my most-watched director of 2025, and I fully expect him to be somewhere near the top of the list this year too. I just can’t get enough of this stuff.

Shin Saburi and Michiyo Kogure star as Taeko and Mokichi, a middle-aged couple in a loveless marriage. Mokichi resents her husband’s apparent simplicity, referring to him among friends as Mr Bonehead. She assumes that he doesn’t call out her frequent lies because he’s too stupid to even notice. Their relationship is on the brink of dissolution, but will they confront and reconcile their differences? Meanwhile their niece Setsuko (Keiko Tsushima) tries to avoid an arranged marriage, not wanting to follow the example of her unhappy aunt and uncle.

This film has a reputation as A Lesser Ozu, but I bloody loved it all the same! The scene where the couple reconcile over a late night meal of green tea over rice, Mokichi suddenly coming to appreciate Taeko’s simple, unpretentious ways, brought a happy tear to my eye. It’s a bittersweet, heartwarming story told in Ozu’s typically quiet, subtle, complex way. Just what I needed today.

_{(Also, I had a good chuckle when the characters visited a restaurant called Calorie Hut!)}