Made in colour in 1961, "The End of Summer" was to be Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu's penultimate film. Co-scripted by his regular screenwriter Kôgo Noda, it observes the extended Kohayagawa family, who run a small sake brewery in post-war Japan, but who are contemplating merging their business with a larger company.

Youngest daughter Noriko (Yôko Tsukasa) is expected to agree to an arranged marriage, whilst widowed daughter-in-law Akiko (Setsuko Hara) is being given assistance in finding an appropriate gentleman to remarry.

However, the head of the clan, the mischievous Manbei (played by the patriarch from "Floating Weeds", Ganjiro Nakamura), is visiting his former lover Tsune (Chieko Naniwa) and their 21-year-old daughter Yuriko (Reiko Dan), much to the consternation of the other Kohayagawas. A health scare, though, sees them all gather round the old man's bed...

As suggested by Ozu's trademark seasonal title, "The End of Summer" concerns the passing of a particular era and a way of life. The film's imagery establishes the conflict between the old and the modern, with the neon signs in the opening sequence for 'The New Japan', and through the juxtaposition of office blocks and traditional residential quarters.

Yet although the inevitability of death is acknowledged - the closing frame foregrounds black crows against the backdrop of the smoking crematorium chimney - the handsomely shot "The End of Summer" is also filled with generous qualities of warmth and humour.

Ozu's pared-down visual style facilitates our involvement with these 'ordinary' characters, who are struggling to reconcile their feelings of duty and desire, and to accept life's inevitable changes. The soundtrack underlines this sense of transience. A fitting choice, then, to commemorate the centenary of Ozu's birth.

In Japanese with English subtitles.