CineVue by Ben Nicholson

Throughout, Ozu strikes a touchingly profound note whilst imbuing proceedings with his usual playfulness.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

Ozu is one of the greatest artists to ever make a film. This was his last one.

The A.V. Club by Keith Phipps

Ozu lets the story of uneasy transitions play out against a Japan that's undergoing changes of its own.

Slant Magazine by Eric Henderson

The progression of Ozu’s style seems to parallel that of Jacques Tati, who moved from the mutable likes of M. Hulot’s Holiday into the glass-cut inflexibility of Playtime.

The Irish Times by Tara Brady

Revisiting many of the master’s favourite themes – familial obligations, intergenerational frictions – Ozu’s 54th film delicately maintains its post-war critique.

The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw

Ozu shows how fragile and yet burdensome the institution of the family is.

Chicago Tribune by Staff (Not Credited)

A late classic that revisits old territory with masterly serenity and acceptance. [29 May 2009, p.C4]

TV Guide Magazine by Staff (Not Credited)

No great director confined both his subject matter and technique like Yasujiro Ozu, and this, his final film, sums up so much of what makes that tunnel vision so eloquent.

Total Film by Philip Kemp

Mellow and rich in ironic humour, the film carries an undertow of gentle melancholy; as so often with Ozu, its ultimate message is that loneliness is the human condition.

Time Out by Staff (Not Credited)

Ozu’s final film is a movingly valedictory affair, its familiar story of Ryu’s elderly widower marrying off daughter Iwashita carrying even more poignancy than usual as a poised and wise reminder of passing time and the inevitable approach of mortality.

Los Angeles Times by Justin Chang

Even if the story of a widower (the great Chishû Ryû) and his daughter weren’t such a naturally compelling variation on Ozu’s themes of family, devotion and sacrifice, the exquisite balance of hues and textures in every shot would render it essential viewing.

The Independent by Geoffrey Macnab

Yasujiro Ozu's final film, re-released in a restored version, is a stately, slow-burning but very moving family drama.

Chicago Reader by Dave Kehr

Stylistically it’s one of Ozu’s purest, most elemental works: no camera movement, very little movement within the frames, and hardly any apparent narrative progression. Appreciating Ozu is a matter of temperament—for some, his films are unbearably dull; for others, they are works of a unique serenity and beauty.

Variety

This view of contemporary middle class life in Japan is too leisurely paced, too sentimental in design and its humorous social comments too infrequent.