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Rating: 4 out of 5 Release Date: 1937 Director: Leo McCarey Netflix Link IMDb Link |
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Make Way For Tomorrow is raw and brutal. It deals with one of humanity’s biggest problems and biggest fears; being unable to fend for yourself in your elder years and having no one to take care of you. The elderly couple in this film hope that their five children take care of them, but the children all have worries and families of their own, and try to pawn their parents off on each other. The couple, played effortlessly by Victor Moore and the omnipresent character actress, Beulah Bondi, feel useless. All their efforts to try to help end in rebuke. They are simply not needed or wanted; they no longer fit into the world or their own family.
I watched the remake first, Tokyo Story, simply because this one was unavailable; it was just released on dvd a few weeks back. Ozu’s film is a tale of hope, sunshine and lollipops in comparison to this one. Ozu’s is much more subtle in getting its point across, while Make Way For Tomorrow smacks you over the head and doesn’t stop until the credits roll. Make Way For Tomorrow is a really interesting film considering it was made in 1937. It is every bit as relevant today as it was then.
