― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 16 February 2003 11:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 17 February 2003 06:27 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 17 February 2003 06:53 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 17 February 2003 13:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 17 February 2003 14:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Amateurist (amateurist), Sunday, 20 April 2003 20:48 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 22 November 2003 23:33 (twenty years ago) link
its lovely
― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 22 November 2003 23:34 (twenty years ago) link
― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Sunday, 23 November 2003 00:03 (twenty years ago) link
― teeny (teeny), Sunday, 23 November 2003 00:28 (twenty years ago) link
― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Sunday, 23 November 2003 00:37 (twenty years ago) link
― Daniel (dancity), Sunday, 23 November 2003 02:26 (twenty years ago) link
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.
― Anisette, Sunday, 23 November 2003 05:24 (twenty years ago) link
Um, he's got a point.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Sunday, 23 November 2003 07:57 (twenty years ago) link
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).
― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 23 November 2003 14:03 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 23 November 2003 14:06 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 23 November 2003 14:10 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 23 November 2003 14:13 (twenty years ago) link
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).
― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 23 November 2003 14:19 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 23 November 2003 14:20 (twenty years ago) link
― jed (jed_e_3), Sunday, 23 November 2003 14:24 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 23 November 2003 14:27 (twenty years ago) link
― jed (jed_e_3), Sunday, 23 November 2003 14:32 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 23 November 2003 14:42 (twenty years ago) link
― raphael diligent (Cozen), Sunday, 23 November 2003 16:32 (twenty years ago) link
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.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 23 November 2003 18:00 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 23 November 2003 18:01 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 23 November 2003 18:04 (twenty years ago) link
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!
― raphael diligent (Cozen), Sunday, 23 November 2003 19:14 (twenty years ago) link
― raphael diligent (Cozen), Sunday, 23 November 2003 19:16 (twenty years ago) link
― raphael diligent (Cozen), Sunday, 23 November 2003 19:20 (twenty years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 23 November 2003 20:19 (twenty years ago) link
― raphael diligent (Cozen), Sunday, 23 November 2003 21:01 (twenty years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 23 November 2003 21:24 (twenty years ago) link
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.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 24 November 2003 10:08 (twenty years ago) link
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.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 24 November 2003 10:10 (twenty years ago) link
― enrique (Enrique), Monday, 24 November 2003 10:24 (twenty years ago) link
his films sometimes fare ok on video but for the moment i have no interest in video at all.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 24 November 2003 10:42 (twenty years ago) link
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.
― enrique (Enrique), Monday, 24 November 2003 10:45 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 24 November 2003 11:05 (twenty years ago) link
― enrique (Enrique), Monday, 24 November 2003 11:10 (twenty years ago) link
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?
― Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 24 November 2003 11:14 (twenty years ago) link
Hmm...Ford and Ozu...
Bordwell's book is in print as far as I know, and there is no better book on Ozu.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 24 November 2003 11:38 (twenty years ago) link
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.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 24 November 2003 21:20 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 24 November 2003 21:23 (twenty years ago) link
I wonder how many Ozu films deal with marrying off a daughter, exactly. I think I've seen at least six myself.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 24 November 2003 21:28 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 24 November 2003 21:29 (twenty years ago) link
― jed (jed_e_3), Monday, 24 November 2003 21:31 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 24 November 2003 21:36 (twenty years ago) link
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
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 11 December 2018 04:53 (five years ago) link
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.
― I Feel Bad About My Butt (j.lu), Friday, 11 January 2019 22:17 (five years ago) link
That URL should be: https://silver.afi.com/Browsing/Movies/Details/m-0100002299.
― I Feel Bad About My Butt (j.lu), Friday, 11 January 2019 22:18 (five years ago) link
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
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 20 July 2019 17:15 (four years ago) link
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.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 1 October 2019 16:51 (four years ago) link
yeah, the tonal mismatches helped it.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 1 October 2019 16:56 (four years ago) link
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).
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 1 October 2019 17:13 (four years ago) link
does the CC release have What Did the Lady Forget?
yes
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 1 October 2019 17:14 (four years ago) link
i thought the titular snack was the totalizing moment!
Bordwell breaks down the use of the dolly in his segment.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 1 October 2019 17:15 (four years ago) link
Lol oh yeah
Caught it at a rep screening in June, sorta foggy on it
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 1 October 2019 17:16 (four years ago) link
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...)
― koogs, Tuesday, 28 April 2020 12:41 (three years ago) link
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
― the bournemouth supremacy (Matt #2), Saturday, 27 June 2020 11:07 (three years ago) link
directors as architecture fans is my favourite thing, Ozu, Hitch, Argento
― hotwire my scampo (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 27 June 2020 11:11 (three years ago) link
love some Ozu, the best kind of cinematic escapism.
― calzino, Saturday, 27 June 2020 11:22 (three years ago) link
big tick
― hotwire my scampo (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 27 June 2020 11:22 (three years ago) link
Also 'passageways'...
https://vimeo.com/55956937
― Maresn3st, Saturday, 27 June 2020 17:54 (three years ago) link
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?
― flappy bird, Saturday, 27 June 2020 23:03 (three years ago) link
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
― koogs, Sunday, 28 June 2020 06:11 (three years ago) link
there are a shitload of full Ozu movies on Youtube at the moment, Hara Setsuko is my current asmr dream guide
― 1000 Scampo DJs (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 15 October 2020 22:20 (three years ago) link
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.
― Maresn3st, Thursday, 15 October 2020 22:36 (three years ago) link
thanks, i'll check that
― 1000 Scampo DJs (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 15 October 2020 22:42 (three years ago) link
Pretty much all Shimizu is great--just watched Japanese Girls at the Harbor the other day, some great tracking shots that presage Mizoguchi.
― flappy bird, Friday, 16 October 2020 04:25 (three years ago) link
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.
― Maresn3st, Friday, 16 October 2020 12:14 (three years ago) link
Film Forum is showing everything there is right now for the 120th/60th anniversary of his death. https://filmforum.org/series/ozu-120
― Holly Godarkbloom (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 19 June 2023 23:53 (nine months ago) link
I just got back from seeing EARLY SUMMER for the first time.
― Holly Godarkbloom (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 19 June 2023 23:54 (nine months ago) link
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
― assert (matttkkkk), Tuesday, 20 June 2023 08:17 (nine months ago) link
> A complete retrospective of Yasujirō Ozu's extant work
no "record of a tenement gentleman"? - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039651/
― koogs, Tuesday, 20 June 2023 08:56 (nine months ago) link
nor Kabuki (aka The Lion Dance, an early sound doco) nor Tokyo Chorus (which is on Criterion Eclipse)
― assert (matttkkkk), Tuesday, 20 June 2023 09:20 (nine months ago) link
RECORD OF A TENEMENT GENTLEMEN already played. TOKYO CHORUS was scheduled for the 26th.
― Holly Godarkbloom (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 20 June 2023 10:35 (nine months ago) link
You can can click on the flyer. Or the numbers. Or scroll down.
― Holly Godarkbloom (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 20 June 2023 10:37 (nine months ago) link
― Holly Godarkbloom (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 20 June 2023 10:40 (nine months ago) link
xp ah - I did click and I did scroll down, but none of those titles showed for me.
― assert (matttkkkk), Tuesday, 20 June 2023 11:00 (nine months ago) link
Maybe they are not available in your region.
― Holly Godarkbloom (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 20 June 2023 11:07 (nine months ago) link
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.
― Holly Godarkbloom (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 20 June 2023 11:09 (nine months ago) link
caught I was born, but... + a contemporaneous short last night with benshi narration
https://www.screenslate.com/articles/i-was-born-hawaii
pretty great!
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Tuesday, 20 June 2023 20:16 (nine months ago) link
Cool! I saw that was happening but couldn't stay.
― Holly Godarkbloom (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 20 June 2023 21:27 (nine months ago) link
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.
― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 21 June 2023 03:10 (nine months ago) link
Lol. Harsh but otm.
― Holly Godarkbloom (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 21 June 2023 05:24 (nine months ago) link
Wonder if I should try to see WHERE NOW ARE THE DREAMS OF YOUTH? tonight.
― Holly Godarkbloom (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 21 June 2023 13:37 (nine months ago) link
Okay, that was pretty good.
― Holly Godarkbloom (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 22 June 2023 02:21 (nine months ago) link
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.
― koogs, Friday, 8 December 2023 19:47 (three months ago) link