Haha wo kowazuya

Definitely a lesser Ozu film. I think that even if the missing scenes were there this wouldn't have resonated with me.

Star Rating: ★★★

Despite the performances, the film is overall rather plain. Maybe what's missing is more of Ozu's "lived-in" style of breathing real life into his stories. A Mother Should Be Loved in its short runtime hits the pivotal moments along the way as a young man struggles to understand his identity and his relationship to his mother (or stepmother, technically). we don't really get to know or feel these characters outside of the key conversations, choices, battles.

The first and the last reel is missing, so we only gets a partial look at this Ozu. The first reel isn't really necessary. More damaging to the overall impression is the missing final reel where the emotional climax between mother and stepson happens. But Ozu had established the characters so well that it's easy to imagine from the description how it would be acted out. We'd already been given a very in-depth look at their emotions and their reactions, so credit to the director for that.