i be a relative latecomer to the transcendent work of film auteur yasujiro ozu and whose masterfully understated view of japanese life and especially in the post wwii era and illuminate universal truth . have now see several of his landmark film such a 1949 late spring and 1953 tokyo story and i be convince that ozu have a particularly idiosyncratic gift of convey the range of feeling arise from intergenerational conflict through elliptical narrative and subtle imagery . it be taiwanese director hou hsiao hsien keen aspiration to pay homage to ozu on his centenary with this generally enervate 2003 film . among with co screenwriter tien wen chu and hsiao hsien appear to get the visuals right but do not capture the requisite emotional weight that would have make the glacial pacing tolerable . the story concern yôko and a young japanese writer research the life of mid 20th century taiwanese composer jiang wen ye in tokyo after come back from taiwan where she teach japanese . after 25 drawn out minute of character set up and she reveal to her father and stepmother that she be pregnant by one of her student in taiwan . at the same time and yôko coffeehouse friend hajime and who run a use bookstore and have an obsession for train and seem likely to be in love with her . hsiao hsien connects this slim plot line with a series of shot hold for inordinately lengthy take a the frame composition change . there be also long stretch of silence as well a an abundance of scene feature train . while these technique be consistent with ozu style and hsiao hsien can not seem to dive into the character psyches the way ozu do with maximal fluidity and minimal theatrics and in particular and yôko plight seem rather non committal in the scheme of the drama present and her parent reaction overly passive to hold much interest . in fact and the whole film have an atmosphere of exhaustion about it and which make the film feel interminable . the performance be unobtrusive though hardly memorable . j pop music star yo hitoto bring a natural ease to yôko and while tadanobu asano be something of a cipher a hajime . the rest of the character barely register and even nenji kobayashi and kimiko yo a yôko parent . cinematographer lee ping bing provide expert work though he violate a cardinal rule of ozu film by not keep the camera stable during shot . hitoto speak sing the fetch pop song use over he end credit and hito shian . the dvd include an hour long and french make documentary and métro lumière and which actually do help provide some of the context for hsiao hsien approach to the film . it include excerpt from ozu film and in particular and equinox flower and to show the parallel with this film though surprisingly no mention of either tokyo story or early summer and the obvious basis for some of the scene and situation set ups . there be also edit interview clip of hitoto and asano and hsiao hsien and as well a the film trailer .