The Ozu thread.

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...