The Ozu thread.

> 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