The Ozu thread.

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.