A lovely, gentle and totally captivating exploration of the changing times in 1950s Japan and its effect upon one man from an earlier era, Equinox Flower belongs to director Yasujiro Ozu's "late period" and benefits from the heartfelt reflections of a man in the autumn of his life. As with so many other of the master director's works, this one is about the manner in which people, especially family members, try to have an effect upon other, usually unwilling, people. Ozu understands that there is a reason for this: that many of us are defined as much by others and by their place in our lives as we are by our own thoughts, feelings and actions. When Wataru's daughter breaks with tradition and chooses her own husband, it causes the older man to feel at sea in his own skin. Surprisingly, Equinox ends on a happy note, which is often not the case with Ozu. The ending is optimistic and implies that Wataru is changing, coming to accept that change is inevitable and that he must make some accommodations to the times. It sound simple, but in Ozu's hands, it comes across as profoundly moving. Working in color for the first time, Ozu uses the palette to create contrast, atmosphere and emotion, and does so masterfully. His traditional knee-level angles and beautifully compose unchanging shots are used to marvelous effect, and his cast plays every scene as close to perfection as it is possible to get. If perhaps not as "important" as some of his other works, Equinox is still a deeply felt and gorgeous meditation on life.