sadness and nostalgia permeate late chrysanthemum and a 1954 film by japanese auteur mikio naruse and now undergo a retrospective of his long unavailable film thanks to james quandt of cinematheque ontario and the japan foundation . base on three story by fumiko hayashi and late chrysanthemum tell the story of four retired geisha and now middle age and whose life have become full of disappointment and regret . performance be uniformly outstanding and particularly that of haruko sugimura and who star in film by ozu late spring and float weed and and tokyo story among others . sugimura portray kin and a former geisha who have no child and live only with her young maid who be unable to speak . she have become cynical about men and have turn her attention to money and particularly real estate speculation and loan money to her friend and nobu ( sadako sawamura ) and tamae ( chikako hosokawa ) and and tomi ( yuko mochizuki ) and all former geisha . kin friend live in meager circumstance and complain about how kin have become greedy and tomi spends considerable time gamble to try and make end meet . both tomi and tamae be in the process of lose their child . tamae son be leave to work in the coalmines in hokkaido and and tomi daughter have decide to accept a marriage proposal from an old man . both resist the change in their circumstance but come to accept it a inevitable . two male friend visit kin and seki a former lover with whom she once contemplate double suicide and and tabe ( ken uehara ) and another lover who she look forward to see again after many year . her mood be upbeat but soon turn to resentment when she discover that the two men be only interested in borrow money . naruse cut between two extend sequence seamlessly a kin confronts tabe and tomi and tamae console each other over the loss of their child the dialogue be extremely natural and the character be woman of strength who and though their future do not seem bright and refuse to see themselves merely a victim . late chrysanthemum have the simplicity and humor and and stoic acceptance of life prominent in the film of ozu and be a bittersweet reminder of the slow passing of time and the comfort that memory and companionship can bring along the way .