The Ozu thread.

Ozu's old studio, Shochiku, is planning major events for his centennary. They've restored all of his extant films (most of his silents are lost, sadly) and are preparing subtitled prints for distribution around the world. At the moment no Ozu films are being distributed in the US, but that should change shortly. Also several companies in the UK and the US are planning DVD issues of several Ozu films. And finally there are rumblings that Shochiku plans to release every one of his extant films (that's 30+, people) onto DVD in one, undoubtedly phenomenally expensive, set.

For more info see www.ozuyasujiro.com.

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/images/ozu.JPG

And what did you think of Ohayo, Martin?

its lovely

My father is about to retire, and I've noticed a bit of regret within him - that maybe he could've been a better father. Seeing Tokyo Story a few years ago really made it clear to me that no matter how justified I might have felt, whenever I went against their advice or wishes, I usually acted like a jerk. In the film, the mother dies, thinking that her children are disrespectful, selfish brats. It didn't really hit me before, with that much clarity, just how utterly horrible that would be. I think about the movie all the time; I really do. Whenever my father sternly says to me, "You need to get married," instead of laughing, I now just listen, patiently.

Um, he's got a point.

Do you mean "End of Summer"? It actually goes under different titles in English, but the Japanese title translates as "Last Happiness for the Kohayagawa Family," thus the French title was "Dernier caprice."

I just saw it on Friday, and you're right, many people in the audience were weeping at the end.

This is one of a very few films Ozu made for the Toho company, which he could do because he had fulfilled his contract with rival Shochiku by producing a film for them that year already. I think Toho allowed him greater financial resources but he couldn't use some of his favored crew who were contracted to Shochiku, so here he uses Kurosawa's cameraman instead of Yuharu Atsuta, and the score was written not by the great Kojun Saitô but by Toshirô Mayuzumi, with whom Ozu worked I believe only this once. The reasons were obvious to me--compared to the graceful scores of Tokyo Story etc., which underline but do not overpower the emotions latent in the action (or non-action) on screen, the score for "End of Summer" is rather militant, aggressive...with dramatic bursts of darkness and shifts in tone. I thought it was inappropriate, but at the same time it was interesting to see how the film fared anyhow (well I think).

Anisette I think one of the great things about "Tokyo Story" and indeed many Ozu films is how, as in Renoir's great films, each character has their reasons for acting and feeling as they do, even if certain actions might be unforgivable. The dialogue between the youngest daughter and Setsuko Hara toward the end of the film crystallizes this, and in fact offers the audience two distinct perspectives from which to judge the action: the daughter's fury at the insensitivity of her brothers and sisters, and Noriko's greater sympathy for all parties (a feeling which is made all the more poignant by her breakdown in front of her father in law, where she confesses to selfishness and of not thinking of her late husband every day--in light of this confession one could think that her attentiveness to her in laws is a way of trying to forgive herself).

By means of a cagey explanation--again, I won't actually reveal the plot here--in Japan (someone correct me if I've got this somewhat wrong) a shaft of wheat represents a dead person, synbolizing the endless renewal...from death to the bonteous wheat harvest, etc. This is why the Japanese title is important.

At some point the Western distributors of Ozu's films decided to give the late films, similar sounding titles referencing the seasons. In a way this is apt because his late films are, as I mentioned before, like variations or rotations on a theme (Ozu jokingly referred to himself as a "tofu seller"). But on some occasions (also as noted above) the English titles obscure the specificity of meaning in the film (sometimes a very Japanese specifity).

We'll see what the prints of the silents look like...hopefully they're not the same prints that have been banging around for 20 years.

i. they felt like i wasn't supposed to be seeing them. like they were a kind of historical archive of japanese (?) relationships and etiquettes of the time acted out rather than written then locked away in a timecapsule (i.e. japan).
ii. they were relentlessly slow.
iii. it ws quite odd seeing the same actors playing similar roles differently, it's a simple thing to say i suppose but it jst fetched up as quite odd.
iv. the colours!
v. the scene near the end of one of them (sorry my memory is really quite sketchy of these films, i'm not too sure i'm tht big a fan of ozu) with the old woman and the old woman picking things from a river, smoke in the background, 'someone must have died', 'but the crows haven't moved' (i may be mis-remembering this).
vi. the cramped architecture.
vii. i didn't notice the music at all, is it really that good?
viii. the colours!

I enjoyed the strange jazzy score for "An Autumn Afternoon" which stays at full blast no matter if its a comic or a noncomic scene, and even serves--welcomely-- to confuse the two, such that half the audience will be laughing and half dabbing their eyes at the same time. The score for "Early Summer" just seemed to underline a few too many times emotions that were already made plain through other means, and also tried--unsuccesfully thank god--to smother other, more complex emotions that might emerge unexpectedly as they are wont to do when watching Ozu's films.

You're probably right that Ozu's reputation is no greater in England than here in France. I was just surprised, given Paris's reputation as the Mecca of great cinema, that this series has arrived without much fanfare.

his films sometimes fare ok on video but for the moment i have no interest in video at all.

why would you want to devote yourself to a symptomatic reading of the most deliberate of all filmmakers?

might be rewarding. i'm not quite sure what you mean anyway: lang and hitchcock were deliberate filmmakers and ppl still read their times into their work, so why not ozu? he was working through the most momentous 2 decades in japanese history, after all.

I saw the recent re-release of 'Floating Weeds' - reminded me of John Ford a great deal - the colours, the folksy humour, the conservatism with a small c, etc.

Wasn't the original negative of 'Tokyo Story' destroyed in a fire?

Hmm...Ford and Ozu...

Bordwell's book is in print as far as I know, and there is no better book on Ozu.

Anyhow, as I am coming to realize again, Ozu excels at making movies where the poignancy doesn't necessarily reveal itself in full until the end, where it sneaks up on the audience almost suddenly. Here it's particular well-drawn, the longish scene where Chishu Ryu begins peeling an apple and then hunches over in sadness.

I wonder how many Ozu films deal with marrying off a daughter, exactly. I think I've seen at least six myself.

This film has two shots, one toward the end and one at the very end, that effect a turning of the earth...one vertically, the other horizontally, each shot among the most stunning I have seen. The final shot is the greatest gift the cinema has given me, I am awed by it each time and more each time.

and i'm going to be in nor cal that weekend. hmmm...

''v. the scene near the end of one of them (sorry my memory is really quite sketchy of these films, i'm not too sure i'm tht big a fan of ozu) with the old woman and the old woman picking things from a river, smoke in the background, 'someone must have died', 'but the crows haven't moved' (i may be mis-remembering this).''

well, there are two exchanges between those two, the first:

[looking the crows]'someone must have died'
the woman says: no smoke (no one has been cremated)

the it cuts to the family members talking abt the dead man, his sister comes in, i think the older brother doesn't make it.

smokes starts to come out

and then it has three points of view: 1) most of the family in that room looking at the smoke, 2) the two ssiters by the river looking at it and 3) the two ppl by the river.

'someone has died'
then something about how nature successfully replaces the dead and then finally cuts to the family crossing the bridge, a further exchange, shot of the crows.

END

(that's how i remember it)

Like ralph says i really enjoyed the colours, the stillness, the way it was shot, how there doesn't seem to be too much drama (the stillness maybe diluting the fact that many of the characters are making decisions that will shape the remainder of their lives) and yet your attention is held throughout...wish i had taped it actually bcz this is one for repeated viewings.

but anyway, they are broadcasting another one tomorrow.

from the write-ups I do not entirely understand the appeal.

i generally dislike those makingofs (that's what they call them in france, makingofs) and such things

what kind of question is this? Like most enjoyers of films, I often read write-ups of films and think "that sounds like the kind of film I want to see". In this case I thought the opposite. The films sounded overly static and almost stagey in their use of unmoving cameras and long shots. Obviously, this could work far better in practice, and IFI write-ups of fortchcoming films have been known to completely over or under-sell films in the past.

yeah i thought that would be the case from yr first post. The stillness would put you off. Just thought to ask since i don't know what kind of movies you like.

perceived slowless involves a lot of different factors. the length of shots, the amount and speed of movement of the camera, the amount and speed of movement in the frame, the story materials, etc. etc. by a lot of these standards--and again compared to your typical hollywood movie--ozu is slow. but is the overall effect that of "slowness" as in "boredom"? i dont think so, but then im a rather fanatical partisan so i would say that. certainly his films are not slow in the way that those by angelopoulos or hou hsiao-hsien can be slow. and many of his earlier films--the ones you probably arent likely to see--are quite fast, like a lubitsch or a von sternberg film.

anyway; i just found an article by jonathan rosenbaum called "is ozu slow?" its typically discursive and poorly structured and annoying for that (typical for rosenbaum that is) but there are some worthwhile tidbits in there: http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/00/4/ozu.html

julio ozu's films were almost without exception very popular upon their release, and "tokyo story" only took about a decade after its formal introduction to europe and america to begin placing in the top 10 polls of the major film magazines. i'd say they have a pretty wide appeal among people who will search out older films.

I don't really know what kind of films I like either! It's possible I'd love these films.

there arent too many long shots in fact, there are as many medium shots and even some close ups (though not many).

I meant long in time.

DV- you should def go to one of the movies that have been recommended here. I think it would be quite an experience.

yeah it goes without saying that id recommend them too. which ones are playing? maybe i can make a suggestion...

both movies have this similar shot:

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/images/directors/03/26/ohayo7.jpg

with people walking up there too.

http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=240§ion=feature

http://www.livejournal.com/users/imomus/ (second post down.) (the img of the artificial eye 'floating weeds' is v. v. exciting.)

http://www.subjective.freeservers.com/tokyo-ga.html

?!

i meant to write "the end of summer"--that's the one with the anomalous subpar soundtrack. the score to "early summer" is in fact amazing.

His family dynamic stuff reminds me of Henry James.

there are a few ozu films that are more overtly didactic. "brothers and sisters of the toda family" starts out like many of the more familiar films but winds up in a very very didactic, even strident mode that i wasn't comfortable with. some of the silent films, too, are a bit didactic in a proto-neorealist vein ("an inn in tokyo"). there are of course didactic elements even in some of the best late films, but they are muted and no one character is ever made to be the "voice of the film" so to speak.

(cozen how are you?)

this doesn't accord with my limited knowledge of ozu, but there are so many questions begged i don't see how it ever could. if the family is an agent of 'oppression', whence that oppression? if you wanted a film that showed 'the individual vs the family', then 'rebel without a cause' might be a better place to look than ozu, but even if it were true of ozu, counterposing the individual to the collective unit is hardly incompatible with conservatism, which is all about the realization that social obligations cause suffering. which conservatives argue for *more* social obligations?

I need to see more.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/movies/homevideo/16dvd.html

It's funny how people fuss about the low camera angles, when the characters sit on the floor so often.

I liked that guy who usually plays fathers in the mid- to late period. You know, that guy.

The parent-child plots are so similar I have trouble distinguishing unless I see a bunch of them in succession.

ihttp://scoopsnoodle.com/future/goodmorning.html

the way the lighter than usual for ozu subject matter plays with his trademark cinematography is absolutely effervescent!

http://scoopsnoodle.com/future/futurepix/GoodMorning.jpg

The latest batch!

Yes! I ordered and have mine on the way. Can't wait to watch them.

criterion/eclipse is doing some silent ozus.

I know Tokyo Story is supposed to be moving. But it just isn't for me. I don't know if it's because everyone in it is generally so stoic?

The best dialogue is near the end: "Life is disappointing, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is."

It's behind Early Summer and Floating Weeds for me – it takes a while to realize why Ozu ping-pongs the couple from child to child – but it's one of those movies that the rewatching of which really makes you love it.

An Autumn Afternoon has the most shattering conclusion of any Ozu film; I did weep.

http://www.familylosangeles.com/blog/uploaded_images/CinefamilyNovDec-743705.jpg

what's that from?

hi jed, the comics reporter site pointed me to this link:

http://www.familylosangeles.com/blog/2008/11/did-you-know-this-is-out.html

The Eclipse series of Criterion has released a shitload of early and late Ozu, some of which have never even gotten a VHS release. I just got Equinox Flower from the library.

I watched Equinox Flower last night and it was excellent!

that ware poster is amazing. need a copy.

So I have finally seen some Ozu films - Tokyo Story and his last one. I was somewhat surprised by them - I had picked up the idea (largely from this thread) that they would be a bit, er, boring. But they are very eventful, even if on a global scale not that much happens in them. I also loved how good natured they are.

I was going to revive this thread because Early Spring looked enticing at the library a few minutes ago.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/film_programme/january_seasons/yasujiro_ozu

I recommend Late Autumn, probably my second favourite after Tokyo Story.

Equinox Flower is my favorite of the color ones; the color accentuates the sadness and fatalism.

great article in sight & sound this month about ozu's unseen early genre flicks. didn't know so many - at least 16 iirc - of his films were lost.

have tickets to see tokyo story this weekend - psyched

Feeling awful how I've not seen any one thing from this yet :-(

the flavour of green tea over rice is worth seeing

tokyo story was aiiiight - like ohayo much better

i just saw tokyo story for the first time in a film class like 3 hours ago--7/11 people were crying by my count. (i was really close, still kind of want to cry tbh)

I've only seen 2 Ozu films, Tokyo Story (twice) and Floating Weeds. I found them boring. Do you think I should give up or try other films?

Late Autumn is slightly pacier than most (only slightly though), Ozu films take a bit of getting used to though - I saw Floating weeds ages ago and thought it was boring, now I love it.

if you found them boring, you should give up - his other stuff is not loaded with action - what he does is contemplative

i'd leave it. you might come back to him, you might not, but i wouldn't keep reading a novelist if i didn't like them after three goes.

As has been pointed out previously on this thread, Good Morning has lots of fart jokes. Slowly paced, but with farting.

good morning is great, pretty accessible becauase of the fart jokes

fart jokes go a long way

You could try a slightly off-center Ozu if you felt like it, something like A Hen in the Wind.

think part of the prob w/ TOKYO STORY esp is that the original negative was destroyed in a fire, so even new prints are struck from dupes, often making the image muddy/less luminous than it shld be

BFI have a blu ray of tokyo story out in the summer, will be interesting to see how that fares

even more off-centre: Dragnet Girl! it is a delight.

> I've only seen 2 Ozu films, Tokyo Story (twice) and Floating Weeds. I found them boring.

i was enthralled from the very first shot of Floating Weeds

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4060/4525225877_8058195c52.jpg

was the first Ozu i'd seen in colour, and the colour served to make the black and white kimonos stand out more.

the opening shots of an autumn afternoon are similarly spellbinding.

It took Floating Weeds and Early Summer for me to "get" him.

boy, is Tokyo Twilight bleak: an abortion, confrontation, and suicide.

are there ppl who hate ozu

high schoolers

Probably many are indifferent to him but they won't click on this thread

not ppl afaict xp

right....indifference is about the worst ozu inspires, even on the internet

http://filmfanatic.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/Tokyo2.JPG

(maybe shouldn't say but "indifferent" was code for those who intentionally or otherwise bait Film Snobs #1 and #2 on any general purpose movie thread. Or go after film-snob-elect clemenza)

i love that still

how to frame a landscape in academy ratio

Good point

He was keen to experiment with colour yet he eschewed any frame wider than standard Academy ratio, saying that the wide frame looked "like a piece of toilet paper".

are there ppl who hate ozu

now you must have seen this thread while searching to wake up the current one

i hate Ouzo -

http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/ProductImage.aspx?pc=LIQ%2FOUZ1&w=270

is nothing sacred xp

re that coca cola picture. i kinda expected the bfi (or whoever) to clean up that enormous scratch that persists for a good couple of minutes during this sequence.

I saw the silent "I Was Born, But..." the other weekend at Anthology. Such a beautiful and amusing film.

I've been meaning to watch Ozu for a while and I just finished my first one, Good Morning, which was utterly delightful. The low camera angles were great and and I found the setting so fucking charming. What should I watch next? Tokyo Story?

why not

milton -- this was bookmarked so i didnt see the other ozu thread

RIP Chikage Awashima

http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/chikage-awashima-1924-2012

man, it's instructive to read the start of this thread and see lamenting enrique, less than ten years ago, bemoaning the fact that the only ozu available for home viewing is tokyo story on vhs - now, in the uk at least, you can get beautiful blu-ray editions from the bfi for less than a tenner

lol that 'lamenting' ^ is strayand i'm sure inaccurately placed

And due to the extensive restoration you can get these shown on TV: it was lovely to watch Late Spring with the parents over Xmas.

I saw the silent "I Was Born, But..." the other weekend at Anthology. Such a beautiful and amusing film.

― Virginia Plain, Monday, 16 January 2012 17:33 (3 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hou's favourite, apparently, i'm gonna watch

the scene where they run amateur movies is the best

i have that sat in front of the tv waiting to watch...

last thing i watched was 'a mother should be loved' another ozu silent that was also missing the first and last reels. not a very satisfying watch it must be said.

koogs, re the scratch in Late Spring, it seems that Criterion heard you (see screenshot about halfway down this review):

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare7/latespring.htm

Been catching up with the Blu Rays of his late colour films, Floating Weeds, Late Autumn and An Autumn Afternoon. So great, I guess it makes me a heathen but I kinda wish all his movies had that same late fifties look and colour palette.

was disappointed with the bluray of tokyo story : /

Oh really? I have it, but haven't watched it yet cause I'm going to see it at the NFT soon. That's a shame, what was it that disappointed you?

(didn't think floating weeds was out until december 3rd? in the uk anyway (and eureka rather than bfi) but yes, lovely looking. and he keeps a lot of the clothes, especially the traditional dress) black and white even though he's shooting with colour film)

haven't bothered with the two silent BFI sets so far - i must admit i struggled with A Mother Must Be Loved and haven't yet watched I Was Born But...

Ah yes, Floating Weeds was just the SD version. Aren't a couple of reels missing from A Mother? Or am I thinking of another, A Hen In The Wind looks pretty good, if a little grim.

there's an ozu silent gangsters box listed for april 2013 as well, i've just noticed.

yes, first and last reel missing from A Mother

http://vimeo.com/55956937

lovely

That's mostly shots from Good Morning, no?

no, i think there were at least 3 or 4 in there. lots of good morning (those shots through the houses to the bank behind them are great) and i recognised a bit of floating weeds (the geishas walking by outside). that they are all in colour should narrow it down a bit, to 6 in fact:

1958 Equinox Flower
1959 Good Morning
1959 Floating Weeds
1960 Late Autumn
1961 The End of Summer
1962 An Autumn Afternoon

I don't know where to stick this: Donald Richie dead

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/world/asia/donald-richie-american-expert-on-japan-is-dead-at-88.html?_r=0

Oh no

pretty much the inspiration for me to learn japanese - rip

ah fuck

i found a copy of his japanese cinema monograph in the recesses the school library when i was in the lower sixth and i think i read it twice, along with a copy of junichiro tanizaki's 'diary of a mad old man' (strange purchases for a school library and remaindered after precisely 0 other people read them)

I noticed that Dragnet Girl is on Youtube, but all the full-length versions are completely silent, no piano accompaniment or anything. After current work deadlines are passed I'm going to check it out -- somebody recommend me some instrumental music to play along with the film, plz? Watching a couple minutes of it in complete silence was too weird and off-putting.

Hollywoodlove:

http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/ozus-cinephilia

Going to see a silent gangster feature called 'Walk Cheerfully' next week, with Benshi accompaniment, stoked!

still the best director that ever was

i still have never seen any of this guy's films -- prob the singlest biggest gap in my film-knowledge.

!!

dude

yeah i know!

should i leave work right now and go rent 'tokyo story'?

Hmm, whats a good in, other than Tokyo Story? Floating Weeds maybe.

"still the best director that ever was"

otm, THOUGH he had the tendency to repeat himself.

Late Spring

In one of his most famous interview quotes, Ozu likened himself to a maker of tofu: “I just want to make a tray of good tofu. If people want something else, they should go to the restaurants and shops.”

now you made me want to drink some Miso soup

xpost

Late Spring, a few years earlier than Tokyo Story, would be the one I'd recommend as a starter, fwiw. Floating Weeds is v slightly untypical of 'late' ozu, and not an particular favourite of mine. if you're going for one of the colour movies, I really like the one sometimes known as The End of Summer.

bought a copy of the new bfi gangster film set for £12 in glasgow fopp, gd price:

http://www.bfi.org.uk/blu-rays-dvds/ozu-collection-gangster-films

otm, THOUGH he had the tendency to repeat himself.

you don't get it, do you

http://www.troll.me/images/facepalm-picard/son-i-am-disappointed.jpg

http://www.troll.me/images/facepalm-picard/son-i-am-disappointed.jpg

I love all his colour movies tbh

Late Spring or Early Summer, J.D.

fortunately we're at the threshold of both.

i got it, and i understand it's part of his ideology/technique, but still

I'll grant this: it's hard to tell them apart ('Which has Setsuko Hara smiling like a tetanus patient over the vicissitudes of life"?)

A friend appeared with a charity shop bought copy of Tokyo Ga for me last week, had never properly seem it before now.

just to demonstrate my opinion:

my first Ozu was Tokyo Story, which was a jaw dropping experience, and became one of my favorite films ever.

the second one was Late Spring, which was great, but i think i'd have appreciate it more if i didn't see Tokyo Story before.

I swear there's an office set that is exactly the same in Equinox Flower and Late Autumn, had me reaching for the DVD box.

I saw late spring recently and loved it. i saw tokyo story a few years ago and found it tiresome, but that may have been because i was young and immature. i'll rewatch it someday.

he never topped Tokyo Story, all the others ive seen looks like reharsal for the big thing (even the one's after Tokyo).

full disclosure: i only saw 4 of his films.

i'm sure i've mentioned it before, prob on this thread, but the original negative of tokyo story was destroyed in a fire many years ago and so the subsequent prints have never been as pristine as other ozus of similar vintage - and tokyo story is also one of his longest films. again, the bfi blu-ray of tokyo story has good sleevenotes that go some way to explaining why tokyo story became ozu's most celebrated film, in europe and the US, at least.

Watched Tokyo Story first, like everyone else, and watches a lot of others after, but usually spaced pretty far out. I've loved them all, but Late Spring was the definite "masterpiece moment."

lol
I do that with sun ra lps

aside from tokyo story my favorites are late spring, tokyo twilight and equinox flower. really i think they are all great if you dig his style.

something that always bothered me a little about tokyo story: the introduction of the youngest son, late in the movie seems to add nothing to the story and is a little confusing if you haven't been closely following the earlier dialog that mentions him.

Chishu Ryu's cameo at the end of The End of Summer <3<3<3

I watched The End of Summer earlier this week and thought it was a bit weak tbh. But nothing really could compare to the other postwar films of his I've seen. (I went Late Spring > Tokyo Story > An Autumn Afternoon > Floating Weeds) Late Spring would be a great starting point, imo.

I liked both the early silents I've seen -- I Was Born, But... and That Night's Wife.

By my quick count, Hulu has 28 Ozus under the Criterion banner.

Equinox Flower is terrific, yeah. Late Autumn is a variant on Late Spring: the mom replaces the dad.

Donald Richie's commentary tracks are exemplary.

Rewatched High and Low recently after a few late Ozus and realized I was inadvertently having a Masahiko Shimazu festival (the super deadpan child actor).

Walk Cheerfully + Benshi was ace, good to know that even his Gangster movies are totally glacial.

you were there too? I was super blown over by the effort they'd gone to - the music was fantastically well-planned, the benshi super funny and on-point, and all just for a members-only screening.

i think my favourite thing about the film was the excellent number of shots of hats.

I was! I feel lucky, a mate of mine is in a band with Tomoko and is a member so he had a jump on tickets. The musicians were great I agree, the shakuhachi player is the venerable Clive Bell who writes for The Wire.

I didn't expect the jaunty little 'hail and well met' dance routines in this film, I'd assumed wrongly that it was a student thing, I wonder if Japanese dudes actually *did* that in the 20's?

hah, I reckon not any more than dudes in the US in the 30s spontaneously broke into song whenever they had an emotion.

Good point, I guess I'm just not used to having to suspend my disbelief with Ozu.

big retro in NYC, June 7-27

To this day the only one I've seen is Good Morning but my god what a delightful film!

that one might be my favorite

it's the only ozu film with a shart joke that's for sure

"I wonder if Japanese dudes actually *did* that in the 20's?"

probably not, but the correct question is, "wouldn't it have been delightful if they did?"

it's the only ozu film with a shart joke that's for sure

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, April 24, 2013 9:48 AM (54 seconds ago)

if my japanese instructor is any indication, older japanese people think farts are the funniest thing in the world.

not just a shart joke btw but REOCCURING shart joke

I just watched early summer. lovely stuff.

not just a shart joke btw but REOCCURING shart joke

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, April 24, 2013 11:22 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

looks like i've been giving Ozu the short shrift all this time

I think you mean "the shart shrift."

l'esprit de l'escalier strikes again!

http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/video/video-yasujiro-ozu-art-benshi

NYC sked

http://www.filmforum.org/movies/more/ozu#nowplaying

Which ones are you thinking about seeing? (if any)

Also, I've only just discovered that there are a fair number of early Ozu works on YouTube.

whatever's hard to see

...like yesterday, his earliest extant film, the collegiate ski-trip comedy (!!!) Days of Youth (1929). Then I find out it's on YouTube. About 20 mins too long, but if you want to see him handle pratfalls and getting-paint-on-your-hands gags....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMnXHaZJKZ4

lots of visual gags w/ ski poles IIRC

Chishu Ryu is one of the students, but I didn't spot him.

In one scene the boys are trying to groom one of their number using a Gary Cooper movie-mag photo.

i did spot chishu ryu when i saw this, but it's tough--he looks incredibly young.

i love all the americanophilia in this and other early ozu films

Has anyone here read Adam Mars-Jones' Noriko Smiling? seems like it might be an interesting bit of criticism...

Film

GAH

Film Forum is showing all the extant silents, what shd I see? Long ago saw Floating Weeds & I Was Born But...

http://sporadicscintillations.blogspot.com/search/label/Yasujiro%20Ozu

a commmenter on MUBI ranks them thusly

1. An Inn In Tokyo (1935)
2. A Story Of Floating Weeds (1934)
3. Passing Fancy (1933)
4. Tokyo Chorus (1931)
5. I Was Born, But… (1932)
6. Woman Of Tokyo (1933)
7. A Mother Should Be Loved (1934)
8. I Flunked, But… (1930)
9. Where Now Are The Dreams Of Youth? (1932)
10. Dragnet Girl (1933)
11. The Lady And The Beard (1931)
12. That Night’s Wife (1930)
13. Days Of Youth (1929)
14. I Graduated, But… (1929)
15. Walk Cheerfully (1930)
16. Fighting Friends (1929)
17. A Straightforward Boy (1929)

http://mubi.com/topics/days-of-youth-1929-an-ozu-film-i-did-not-like-at-all

the correct answer of course is that you should see all of them

the ones you shouldn't miss IMO are

1. An Inn In Tokyo (1935)
3. Passing Fancy (1933)
4. Tokyo Chorus (1931)
5. I Was Born, But… (1932)
6. Woman Of Tokyo (1933)
9. Where Now Are The Dreams Of Youth? (1932)
10. Dragnet Girl (1933)

ozu's 1933 is like ford's 1939 if you know what i mean

I liked That Night's Wife quite a lot. Haven't seen any of the others aside from I Was Born, But... and the existing fragment of I Graduated, But...

yeah, that night's wife is impressive.

wrestling with the "canonization" of Tokyo Story:

http://thefilmstage.com/features/tokyo-story-hits-criterion-blu-ray-questioning-a-canonical-classic/

Lol at

This, mind you, is not another “young philistine with little wit thinks he’s too cool for the canon” piece.

Clicked through to Bergman thing too.

It's not my favorite – the reissues of the last 10 years have changed it – but it's daft to say it's not one of his best

(about to read)

Life of Oharu on DVD at last -- got my copy today.

The Ozu thread.

that's what I get from mobile posting lol

What about Tokyo Story, by Kurosawa?

ehhhh not as good as Naruse's The Alamo.

> Life of Oharu

i saw it on dvd about 4 years ago. was available (region 2) via Artificial Eye "DVD Release Date: 26 April 2004", then OOP for a while. bought the criterion version last month, region 1...

frankly none of these films are half as good as john ford's "the flavor of green tea over rice"

Ward, how were the silent gangster films? Partner picked up that + the college film set on sale from the BFI, but there's a whole bunch of Italian diva films to get through first.

those ozu "gangster" films (which aren't really much like american gangster films IMO, much tamer) are fantastic.

i would recommend pushing back the italian diva films (are you talking about ones from the 1910s?) and watching those ozu movies tonight :)

Shamefully, ive not seen much ozu. i saw early spring last night, and maybe as i was just shattered after work, felt like I was kept at a distance, which made it hard to really engage with it. did see tokyo story and felt similarly, which is odd as it seems like something i would love (im going to try it again), but i seem to find these films too delicate, or precious, or maybe just far too understated (I think seeing them at home might actually suit them better than in the cinema). I have a similar issue with a lot of satyajit rays films. Oddly though, when I saw autumn afternoon last year, I loved it, which makes me think i might like his later films more.
The pcc in London is doing this ‘selectrospective’ season of his seasonally titled movies.
http://www.princecharlescinema.com/events/events.php?seasonanchor=ozu

trio of silents via Eclipse

http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review/eclipse-series-42-silent-ozu-three-crime-dramas

Saw that yesterday...I keep hoping Dragnet Girl will show up on Hulu since the other two are there.

boy, is Tokyo Twilight bleak: an abortion, confrontation, and suicide.

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, June 28, 2011 1:55 PM (4 years ago)

This is a really interesting film. Wonderful performances by the two lead actresses, Ineko Arima looking just completely forlorn. The city has almost a noir quality at times.

I think An Autumn Afternoon is exquisite, it is such an easy movie to completely immerse yourself in and I was genuinely weepy at the end. I really need to watch this again with some decent subs, the subtitle file was too literal and some joker had put viagra references into it. The use of music in this is quite stunning and unusual for the era as well. I can't quite put my finger on it but there is something magical about this movie.

there is a joke about taking "vitamins" for sexual potency.

I figured they had substituted some Japanese herbal word with viagra and it isn't a problem, but it was also a really rough sub-file and most likely a DIY jobbie.

Funnily enough the subtitles on the BFI blu of An Autumn Afternoon are also poor, mainly because they're very difficult to read

I find the totally static scamera in AAA a little distracting - almost oppressive - but the colours are very beautiful throughout (and do look good on that blu)

"the colours are very beautiful throughout" - absolutely yes!

http://film.thedigitalfix.com/protectedimage.php?image=JohnWhite/PDVD_012.JPG_11102008
http://madinkbeard.com/blog/wp-content/images/autumn2-4008.png

Watched this @ BFI w/a friend of mine who is no longer around (moved away from the city) brings a lot of fond and sad memories.

Inspired by this recent revive, I watched Late Autumn (1960) at the weekend, another late one in colour with a resolutely locked camera. Again, the palette (all browns and light blues) and framing of the image (so many 'unmotivated' shots of empty offices, bars, streets, corridors, breezes blowing through them, light rippling, filmed from bizarre angles and with the camera placed very very low) are masterful. The contrast between such radical mise-en-scene and the conventional family drama being played out (this time, a variant on Late Spring, the superior film) reflects back on the film's 'conflict' between old and new Japan (there's a mention of 'That Presley' at one point), and feels utterly distinctive and Ozu-like. Film is too long at over two hours and the ending - so devastating in Late Spring - is almost thrown away here: I guess it's Ozu resisting melodrama in favour of a more placid (or serene) acceptance of loneliness and separation.

having still only seen Good Morning I added some Ozu to my boo's Hulu+ queue so we are going to watch 1. Tokyo Story 2. Late Spring 3. An Autumn Afternoon, those are a good 3 intro Ozus right?

Wow, I rewatched An Autumn Afternoon an hour ago: a return to the Late Spring material with more humor but still bleak ending.

Good Morning might be the best introductory Ozu.

The news broke yesterday of Setsuko Hara's death in Sept, I guess the family wanted to keep it quiet. She was 95.

http://i65.tinypic.com/1604twy.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/ozu%20killshot.jpg

lol

And of course the ending shot, of the waves, has been subjected to numerous interpretations but I suspect that like the waves of grain at the end of "Early Summer," it has a more local (i.e. specific to the film) meaning than has commonly been accepted. But I'll have to look into this.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, November 24, 2003 4:23 PM (fourteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the daughter has left home and the tide has gone out

Excited for summer revivals here - lots of Ozu, including a 35mm print of Early Summer, which I've never seen. Watched An Autumn Afternoon tonight and was again transfixed - not the gut punch of Late Spring, closer to this quote from Ebert: "He is a man with a profound understanding of human nature, about which he makes no dramatic statements. We are here, we hope to be happy, we want to do well, we are locked within our aloneness, life goes on."

Lost Ozu film found, restored, screening soon: http://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/digital-cinema-package-lost-japanese-film-351492/#.XAU1cclXaHc.twitter

A brand-new 4k restoration of Yasujirō Ozu's heartbreaking THE FLAVOR OF GREEN TEA OVER RICE opens @FilmForumNYC Friday! https://t.co/QDso5kOfKl pic.twitter.com/RnCYbj3CsE

— Janus Films (@janusfilms) December 11, 2018

Fun fact: the DCP was held up in customs by the FDA as they feared we were importing a food supplement.

— Janus Films (@janusfilms) December 11, 2018

A screening of I Was Born, But... (1932) that was originally scheduled for the Freer Gallery this weekend has been transferred to AFI Silver (https://scontent.fphl1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/45510790_10156644462929000_4152830356975779840_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&_nc_ht=scontent.fphl1-2.fna&oh=8bd49cb224c79b3ee732a0a1d9951c15&oe=5CCC20B6). AFI has offered me two free tickets, and I was curious if anyone else wanted to go.

That URL should be: https://silver.afi.com/Browsing/Movies/Details/m-0100002299.

Now showing: YASUJIRO OZU's A STRAIGHTFORWARD BOY. A Japanese master's enchanting silent comedy short about a child happy to be kidnapped – so long as his captors are willing to endure his company. Screening with 8 lost minutes restored, this week only on https://t.co/ze1aiGlY0x pic.twitter.com/2R5tjS5KD5

— Le Cinéma Club (@lecinemaclub) July 19, 2019

Watched the Criterion of The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, a satire-drama of a rustic-born salaryman and his cultivated wife teetering on the edge of mutual alienation. Immaculately framed as usual, but the range of performing styles seemed wider than usual (to the good). Also has the clear antecedent feature What Did the Lady Forget? from the late '30s. Set aside a few hours for both + David Bordwell and others on the extras.

yeah, the tonal mismatches helped it.

it is one of Ozu's "most active films" ("there are car rides, and they go to a baseball game!") yes, but I was surprised how much he used the dolly in this one. I liked it but didn't know what to make of it afterward, maybe bc it didn't have a totalizing moment where the whole movie comes to a head (like Late Spring, Tokyo Story, Tokyo Twilight).

does the CC release have What Did the Lady Forget?

yes

i thought the titular snack was the totalizing moment!

Bordwell breaks down the use of the dolly in his segment.

Lol oh yeah

Caught it at a rep screening in June, sorta foggy on it

after, what, 4 years? there's another BFI Ozu dvd in the works

https://shop.bfi.org.uk/pre-order-the-flavour-of-green-tea-over-rice-dual-format-edition.html

also Tokyo Story in 4k a month later.

(last time i saw Green Tea it came with a bonus disk with Story Of A Tenement Gentleman which was great and i'd love to see again but, no...)

The enigmatic ‘pillow shots’ of Yasujiro Ozu:

https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/enigmatic-pillow-shots-yasujiro-ozu

https://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/styles/full/public/image/tokyo-story-1953-004-rails.jpg?itok=aPBiV31g

https://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/styles/full/public/image/late-autumn-1960-001-dining-tea-room-with-no-people.jpg?itok=1L6gDJO3

https://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/styles/full/public/image/autumn-afternoon-1962-009-telecommunication-cables.jpg?itok=5X6sl7ZQ

directors as architecture fans is my favourite thing, Ozu, Hitch, Argento

love some Ozu, the best kind of cinematic escapism.

big tick

Also 'passageways'...

https://vimeo.com/55956937

Saving 'The End of Summer' for... the end of summer. There aren't that many left that I haven't seen. I think that might be the last one left in color.... F

anyone check out the bonus film included on the Green Tea Over Rice disc?

The two bonus things aren't by Ozu (if you're talking about the new bfi release) but are thematically similar

The Mystery of Marriage (1932, 34 mins): educational filmmaker and pioneering female director Mary Field draws peculiar and poignant parallels between the mating rituals of humans, animals and mould in this eccentric, entertaining educational film

The Good Housewife “In Her Kitchen” (1949, 9 mins): the fourth wall is shattered in this imaginative public information film, filled with good advice for kitchen users - whether they have a refrigerator or not

there are a shitload of full Ozu movies on Youtube at the moment, Hara Setsuko is my current asmr dream guide

There is a YT channel called 'modernrocksong' which has a few dozen great old Japanese movies from the '30s, Shimizu Hiroshi's 'The Masseurs and a Woman' is especially good.

thanks, i'll check that

Pretty much all Shimizu is great--just watched Japanese Girls at the Harbor the other day, some great tracking shots that presage Mizoguchi.

He's a bit of a blank spot with me I guess cause his movies seem hard to come by - Region 1 Criterion boxes - but I love Mizoguchi, Street Of Shame is one of my favourite films.

Film Forum is showing everything there is right now for the 120th/60th anniversary of his death. https://filmforum.org/series/ozu-120

I just got back from seeing EARLY SUMMER for the first time.

that Ozu moment when I try to triangulate every combination of Early and Late seasons to recall which Ryū/Hara paired relationship is in it

> A complete retrospective of Yasujirō Ozu's extant work

no "record of a tenement gentleman"? - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039651/

nor Kabuki (aka The Lion Dance, an early sound doco) nor Tokyo Chorus (which is on Criterion Eclipse)

RECORD OF A TENEMENT GENTLEMEN already played. TOKYO CHORUS was scheduled for the 26th.

You can can click on the flyer. Or the numbers. Or scroll down.

that Ozu moment when I try to triangulate every combination of Early and Late seasons to recall which Ryū/Hara paired relationship is in it

xp ah - I did click and I did scroll down, but none of those titles showed for me.

Maybe they are not available in your region.

TOKYO CHORUS is on the web page, TENEMENT GENTLEMEN you have to work harder and click Download the Flyer to see since it has gone off already.

caught I was born, but... + a contemporaneous short last night with benshi narration

https://www.screenslate.com/articles/i-was-born-hawaii

pretty great!

Cool! I saw that was happening but couldn't stay.

Nothing made me appreciate Chishū Ryū more than seeing Early Summer, where you realize he's a nasty middle-aged man instead of the dotard he plays in Late Spring and Tokyo Story.

Lol. Harsh but otm.

Wonder if I should try to see WHERE NOW ARE THE DREAMS OF YOUTH? tonight.

Okay, that was pretty good.

http://www.cineoutsider.com/reviews/bluray/t/three_films_by_yasujiro_ozu_br.html

so, record of a tenement gentleman gets a release, I've been waiting for that for a while. only is a 3-br set with two other films that i already have in bfi editions, dragnet girl and hen in the wind. apparently those are new transfers from 202x but still. might have to be a Christmas present to myself.

loved the grandmother in Good Morning so much

https://i.imgur.com/oaL0b25.png

maybe her best scene was when she calmly threatens the aggressive salesman with her giant knife

https://i.imgur.com/FTa95Nc.png

https://dangerousminds.net/comments/yasujiro_ozu_and_the_enigmatic_art_of_the_pillow_shot

ha, the post just before the revive

> might have to be a Christmas present to myself.

finally purchased yesterday after seeing it discounted to £15 in hmv Oxford Street. also for the Daiei Gothic box and Godzilla -1