THE FLAVOUR OF GREEN TEA OVER RICE has one of the great film titles, even though it might also have appropriately been called CONTEMPT. Ozu set out to portray a man from the viewpoint of a woman, and produced this subtly painful comedy about a married couple drifting apart. He is a stolid, quiet country-bred businessman; she’s a city-bred snob bored with domestic life and scornful of her husband’s rustic ways (including his taste for the eponymous treat). When a favourite niece comes to visit, the unhappy couple is confronted with the possibility of reconciliation. "A classic Ozu"
