A Story of Floating Weeds

1934 ‘浮草物語’ Directed by Yasujirō Ozu

An aging actor returns to a small town with his troupe and reunites with his former lover and illegitimate son, a scenario that enrages his current mistress and results in heartbreak for all.

Takeshi Sakamoto Chōko Iida Kōji Mitsui Emiko Yagumo Yoshiko Tsubouchi Tomio Aoki Reikô Tani Chishū Ryū

Alternative Titles

Historia de una hierba errante, Ukikusa monogatari, История о плывущих водорослях, Повесть о плавучей траве, Histoire d'herbes flottantes

drama

86 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by meg✨ ★★★

I very much love 1930s silent films. Thank you Yasujiro Ozu.
Review by Arsaib Gilbert ★★★★ 3

[Favorites of 1930s]
It may be impossible to compute, but given how often fathers are physically or emotionally absent in the films of Ozu Yasujirô it is safe to say that his own situation growing up left a lasting impression on him. Ozu, who spent the majority of his life living with his mother, did not have much contact with his father during his formative years, a once-prosperous man who died in 1933, a year before he made the silent A Story of Floating Weeds (Ukikusa monogatari).
The film opens with the arrival of an itinerant kabuki troupe to a provincial town. The impoverished band is led by a good-natured man named Kihachi (Sakamoto Takeshi, who played a similar character…
Review by Rashid N. ★★★★ 1

I was going through my schedule for my Yasujirō Ozu binge and almost left out this film because I wanted to get to his talkies quicker but I am so glad that I didn't as A Story of Floating Weeds is easily my favourite from Ozu thus far.
Up to this point, I had really liked and even sort of loved That Night's Wife and Tokyo Chorus but found them to be riddled with problems and that they were severely underdeveloped, that was mainly the case for That Night's Wife. I had enjoyed his work but it was frustrating to not feel the same love and appreciation for his work as many others had felt so. Yet, I knew that…
Review by BrandonHabes ★★★½ 20

The first Ozu film that feels distinctly "Japanese." Which is funny because for a time many believed Ozu's films were "too Japanese" to be appreciated by western audiences. The irony? Ozu was making western-inflected, Hollywood tributes and films about Japan's modernization since the beginning of his career long before anyone from the West even really knew about him. To call his films "too Japanese" is to be entirely unfamiliar with the kinds of stories he frequently told, which wouldn't grow in popularity in the West till after the war. A STORY OF FLOATING WEEDS is the first film I've seen from Ozu that feels like a period piece. Every character wears traditional Japanese garb, the setting reflects traditional kabuki theater and performances,…
Review by Luke 4

"Are the weeds floating because they're high?"
- Some annoying asshole in my film class
Review by Sally Jane Black 4

Having already seen Floating Weeds, there were no surprises here, but I still found myself a little choked up at the end. The story is as effective as a silent, black-and-white film as it was in its later form. It's a well crafted melodrama that captures the emotional complexity of the head of an acting troupe as he navigates the dissolution of his troupe while reconnecting with his son (who is ignorant of the man's status as his father). He shows profound integrity when everything blows up, and that moment has twice now stunned me.
In grey tones, the film does not lack for powerful imagery. Father and son fishing together, fluidly moving their fishing lines back and forth, is…
Review by D-KING-K ★★★★

اول فلم اتابعه باللغه الانجليزيه قليل الحوارات + كلمات بسيطه ساعدتني على اخد جرعه معنوية عشان اتعلم الانجليزيه اكثر..+ قمت بترجمته
(ترجمه لا تليق فيه لانها اول تجربه) لكن سيتم تدقيقها من مترجم بإذن الله عشان تخرج لكم بأبهى حلة تيلق فيه
❤🏃🏻‍♂️
------------
رابط الترجمه
subscene.com/subtitles/a-story-of-floating-weeds-ukikusa-monogatari/arabic/2381191
شكرا للاخ معاذ على التدقيق والمساعدة
Review by Edgar Cochran ★★★★★

Yasujiro Ozu was a true master at his craft. Theatrical performances and gestures were predominant during the silent era for enhancing the dramatism effect intended, but Ozu (and Mikio Naruse too, for that matter) knew that the stories are what are left in the audience's hearts, and even the images can stay there too. Hence, a striking cinematography is displayed in front of our eyes, creating an aura of either wonder or tension, depending on what the scene intends to create. Although the majority prefers the remake, the black-and-white, silent nature of Ukikusa Monogatari captures a much more tragic feeling, all the more nostalgic.
And.... unlike the remake, this one had me in tears towards the ending.
98/100
Review by sprizzle ★★★★

99 problems.
Yasujiro Ozu is known as one of the grandest masters of cinema. Recently, his film Tokyo Story topped a poll of 358 filmmakers for the Sight & Sound Director's Top Ten. He's a director that is considered to be dense for many (myself included). But the simplicity of A Story of Floating Weeds showcases why his style works. It's a movie that seems completely separate from every other film I've seen from that time period.
My biggest gripe with Tokyo Story is, frankly, it wasn't that innovative. It was Ozu honing his skills in for the 50th time and making a near perfect movie. This film is the first Ozu film I've seen that, to me, is groundbreaking. In…
Review by shogun ★★★½

Another family drama courtesy of Ozu, this time revolving the reunion between an unsuccessful actor and his estranged family. Maybe not as tightly paced as his other silent film ‘I was Born’, but the emotional beats are just as effective and the ending more than delivered.
Intrigued to check out the color remakes of these two silent stories (Good Morning and Floating Weeds) to see how Ozu’s style evolved since the 30’s.
Review by Iman Rahbar ★★★★

میشه گفت اینجا اولین نقطه‌ایه که اوزو در ترکیب فضای ملودرام و کمدی حالت تکامل‌یافته ای رو پیدا می‌کنه که توی فیلم‌های بعدیش تکرار میشه. خط روایی اصلی فیلم از یک روایت کمابیش ملودرام شکل گرفته که از طرفی در زیرلایه‌هاش به بحران اقتصادی ژاپن اون سال‌ها اشاره داره (بر خلاف بعضی از فیلم‌های قبلی که بیش از حد مستقیم بهش اشاره می‌شد) و از طرف دیگه، المان‌هایی که مستقیما به فرهنگ ژاپنی برمی‌گردن رو میشه توش دید و از این نظر شاید بیش از اکثر فیلم‌های دیگه‌ی اوزو فضای ژاپنیش پررنگ باشه. در کنار این‌ها لحن کمیک هم به پس‌زمینه رفته و عمق و بعد تازه‌ای به فضای فیلم داده. همین‌ها باعث شده فیلم خیلی به فضای زندگی عادی نزدیک بشه. اینجا سعی نشده اتفاقات به صورت تحمیلی به هم متصل بشم و همه‌چیز روند طبیعی خودش رو طی میکنه
Review by puffin ★★★★½ 2

Despite Ozu's best efforts previous to this, A Story of Floating Weeds feels closer to his final works than it does the films he had made even just a year prior. And I do admire films like 'I Was Born, But...' and 'Dekigokoro', for example, but A Story of Floating Weeds among other things shows Ozu already having perfected his delicate, cold, and precise storytelling style. Everything feels deliberate and perfected for the most emotional impact possible, allowing for a feeling of nostalgia. But like with nostalgia, better judgement in hindsight or further consideration won't change its final outcome. And even at his most calculated, never does Ozu's style feel limited or inhuman, but instead it gives a perfect window to dreamlike worlds with honest, harsh consequences for understandable human action.
The tragedy of reflection.

Recent reviews

Review by Gavin T. Briggs

-took notes
A story of Floating Weeds is a fascinating film. After watching two earlier Ozu films, this film stands out as being more serious and moody, with amoral, emotional characters, expressive cinematography, and ornate set and costume design.
The cinematography has many layers to it with limited depth. There may be 5 or 6 different layers, a mix of foregrounds and backgrounds with characters interspersed throughout the frame, creating gorgeous compositions in the process. There are many expressive shots that communicate all the feeling you need to know in a simple image or montage of images. Most notably there's a scene between all of the actors towards the end of the film that begins with a long pause of…
Review by Eric

Ozu’s surprisingly sprawling melodrama about a Japanese theater troupe. It is one of the last of his silent movies. He later re-made it in color in 1959. There is a really good antagonist -- just a look from Rieko Yagumo will unnerve you. Plus Ozu fave Takeshi Sakamoto is wonderful as the troubled troupe leader. Its plotting is very much like a Hollywood melodrama, an oddity for Ozu. A bittersweet ending reminds you that you are not watching a Hollywood flick.
Review by Luis A. Mendez ★★★

Luis’ Essential Cinema Selections (The 1930s; Films #351 To #650)
Film #462: A Story Of Floating Weeds
Why Is It Essential?: One of the key early films from the iconic Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu, one which will he go on to remake in his later career.
My Review: Watching this early of a work from Ozu is like watching other iconic directors' early silent films. You can see the greatness they will eventually achieve, but there's some rough around the edges still there as they come into their own. Decent film overall, but there's better to come from Ozu.
Final Grade: B-
More On The List As A Whole:
letterboxd.com/authorlmendez/list/luis-essential-cinema-selections-the-start/
Review by Lloyd Holden ★★★★★

My favorite film.
Review by meg✨ ★★★

I very much love 1930s silent films. Thank you Yasujiro Ozu.
Review by Adam ★★★★

Donald Richie’s commentary on the criterion dvd is pretty good, better than his commentary for Early Summer.
Review by Handy Barker ★★★★★

This is a wonderful film!
Ozu is clearly in control of all the elements of film making, and has a few miraculous things: the jealous Geisha and the Dog Clown Tomio are unbelievably engaging characters that, to me, carry the film far beyond the fairly pedestrian Father/Son plot.
Review by waggo ★★★★

Found family stories always get me too hard.
Review by Ethan McCaslin ★★★

B
Review by Domas Junelis ★★★½

i watched "a story of floating weeds" while letting john cage to intercept constantly repeating his anxious yet melancholic piece called "in a landscape", which notably, felt as if it belonged here right from the start, being the film's abiogenetic point of emergence; emergence, that broke off flourishing to become something deeply intimate and emotionally affective. absorbing first time ozu experience. in a landscape full of floating weeds.
Review by afabry ★★★★

My first silent Ozu film. He was quite the visual storyteller. The way he frames a scene always tells you what you need to know.
Review by Jonathan Castillo Rodríguez ★★★★½

93%