The Best of K-Drama & Movies: Kinocine

During the 2026 Lunar New Year season in Seoul, Ozu Yasujiro’s 1959 masterpiece Good Morning (Ohayo) returned to theaters. Known for his "tatami shots," Ozu is celebrated for a style that contemplates life through fixed low-angle cameras, restrained editing, and repetitive daily dialogues. Unlike Akira Kurosawa, who depicted grand history and passion, Ozu captured the lives of common people with a minimalist eye. Good Morning is a vivid manifestation of this aesthetic. The setting is a newly developed suburban housing complex in 1950s Tokyo. The film unfolds through the landscapes of narrow alleys where small misunderstandings and rumors drift between tightly packed houses. Children play pranks on their way to school and gather at a neighbor's house after class to watch sumo wrestling on television. Their longing for modern gadgets reflects the rapid modernization and the dawn of a consumer society in Japan. At the heart of the story are two brothers, Minoru and Isamu, wh...