Good Morning
Yasujirō Ozu, 1959, 93 min
Japanese with English subtitles

“A comedy of manners and satirical critique of 1950s consumerism, Good Morning updates the silent I Was Born, But… and broadens its humor. Two rambunctious boys living in a Tokyo suburb are determined to have a television set so that they can watch wrestling and baseball. Their father (Chishu Ryu), who predicts that “TV will produce 100 million idiots,” refuses, and when told to shut up the boys take the command literally and zip their lips – forever. Their refusal to respond to such banalities as “ohayo” (good morning) leads to a comedy of misunderstanding, which accelerates until everyone is in an uproar except the beatific, belligerently silent boys.” – Harvard Film Archive

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