Silence and (dis) connection | Film Screening: Good Morning
Session 1: 08 PM, Fri 03 Apr 2026
Sesion 2: 08 PM, Sun 05 Apr 2026
White Light Cinéhub
Floor 3, COMPLEX 01
29/31/167 Tây Sơn, Hà Nội
Registration link (each registration is for 01 guest only)
From the organizer:
Several families live alongside each other in rows of small houses in a residential area on the outskirts of Tokyo. One of them is home to the Hayashi family, comprised of office worker Keitaro, his wife Tamiko, her younger sister Setsuko, and their elementary school age sons Minoru and Isamu. The boys pester their parents to buy a television but to no avail, so they spend all their free time with the other neighborhood children ensconced in the home of a young couple with the only television on the block. Meanwhile, breaking wind becomes a fad among the local kids, and they pour their energies into trying different methods of producing flatulent sounds on command. Meanwhile, a minor dispute breaks out among the local housewives over fees for the local women’s association.
Tamiko admonishes Minoru and Isamu for persistently pleading for a television, and Keitaro angrily scolds them for saying unnecessary things. The children retort that adults say needless things too, such as “Good day,” “Good morning,” and “Nice weather we’re having.” Then they implement a new strategy: a vow of silence…
GOOD MORNING | お早よう (K)
Yasujirō Ozu, 1959
Duration: 94’
Genres: Comedy, Drama
Language: Japanese with Vietnamese and English subtitles
The film is suitable for children under 13 when accompanied by a parent or legal guardian
With “Good Morning”, many viewers will perhaps discover a lesser-known facet of Ozu: a supremely comic director whose delightful laughter springs from cheeky physical comedy – an echo of his youth, when he was tasked to invent visual gags for the silent screen. A reworking of his early masterpiece “I Was Born, But…” (1932), the film employs the perspectives of children to explore generational collisions between parents and children. Yet, nearly three decades later, rather than critiquing the chasm of social class, Ozu broadens his lens toward a more universal, and perhaps deeply personal, theme: the sheer absurdity of everyday human communication, and, in truth, how desperately necessary – and worthy of our indulgence – that absurdity happens to be. Set in a Tokyo suburb of identical, tightly packed wooden houses, where privacy is perpetually invaded by neighbors, “Good Morning” evokes the atmosphere of an American sitcom, its rhythm propelled by the minutiae events born of everyday frivolities. Shot on gorgeous Agfa color stock rather than the era’s ubiquitous Kodak Eastman, the film materializes through warm, highly graphic colors – most notably red – perfectly underscoring the wave of Western pop culture washing over Japan during the postwar ‘economic miracle’.
Tăng Linh
About Silence and (dis) connection:
Silence and (dis) connection is the outcome of An Open Draft – Asia Film Programmers Lab, an initiative launched by the Japan Foundation. Alongside its aim to promote cultural exchange through cinema, the project also seeks to nurture a new generation of film curators and programmers in Southeast Asia and Japan.
Centered on family, the program presents five films spanning several decades of Japanese society. Across these films run a series of averted gazes, unspoken words, and quiet distances that shape human relationships. Yet, it is often within these fractures that the possibility of reconnection emerges.
Note:
– Registration is limited to 36 audience. You will receive a confirmation email within 24 hours of completing registration. Please check your spam folder or contact the White Light Cinéhub Facebook page if you don’t receive it.
– Doors open 30 minutes before showtime for seating and drink selection. Late entry is accepted up to 15 minutes after the screening begins. Please arrive on time for the best experience.
– No outside food or drinks are permitted.
– By attending, guests consent to being photographed and quoted by the project for promotional purposes.
– Coupons are non-transferable and may not be resold under any circumstances.
– If you are unable to attend after registering, please inform us at least 72 hours in advance for refund and to allow your seat to be offered to another guest.
Silence and (dis) connection, organized by White Light Cinéhub with the sponsorship of the Japan Foundation and the media support of COMPLEX 01 and Hanoi Grapevine, introduces 05 selected films with theme of family in Japanese society from the 1950s to the present. The program includes film screenings and conversations, taking place from April 3 to May 3, 2026 at White Light Cinéhub (29/31/167 Tây Sơn, Hanoi).
Follow updates on event’s page.
