The Ozu thread.

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?)