Yasujiro Ozu

[FilmFanSea]

The Seattle Ozu series ended last night with the screening of the 27th film, Passing Fancy. My impressions:

Tokyo Chorus (1931)
After reading Jonathan Rosenbaum's recent review, I was greatly looking forward to this one. A salaryman is fired after protesting the dismissal of an older co-worker. Unable to find work, the proud college graduate is forced to sell his wife's clothes to pay for medicine for his sick daughter, and then is humiliated to distribute handbills to promote the restaurant of his former teacher. The print quality was passable (better than That Night's Wife, but more worn than I Was Born, But ...). Unfortunately, the film was marred by what, IMO, was the worst of the live accompaniments in this series: an anemic quartet content to supply lame sound effects to the on-screen action, and long stretches of silence punctuated by a few unimaginative strummed chords. It seemed under-written and under-rehearsed, and I hope to god it doesn't appear on a subsequent DVD ...

The Only Son (1936)
Ozu's first extant talkie, about the sacrifices of a poor widow toiling in a silk factory to pay for her son's education. When she finally visits him in Tokyo, she finds that his years of expensive education have resulted in a low-paying, night school teaching job, and that he (and a family he never told his mother about) lives in a ramshackle house in a noisy industrial district. Although disappointed that her son has liitle ambition to become the "great man" of her dreams, she is at least proud that he demonstrates compassion and sacrifice for an injured neighbor boy. A very good, moving film (the print was in the same bad shape as all of the other wartime films in the series; I'll be interested to see what magic Criterion can work).

The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952)
Follows a bourgeois, childless couple. The selfish, petty wife is disgusted with her husband's ill manners, and makes fun of him to her friends. When the wife's independent-minded niece balks at an arranged marriage, the wife becomes furious (especially when she finds out that her husband has aided in the niece's deception). A charming mixture of comedy and drama. The print was in good shape.

I Flunked, But ... (1930)
My favorite film of the last week. A college student gets a failing grade when the shirt upon which he has written "cheat notes" is unexpectedly washed before his final exam. While his friends attempt to enter teh job market, he must repeat the term. I found this little gem to be consistently funny and very appealing. The accompaniment (cello and steel guitar) was one of the two best I heard during the series (my other favorite was for Woman of Tokyo). The print quality was similar to that for Tokyo Chorus.

Passing Fancy (1933)
A simple and uneducated single father (a day laborer) is raising his considerably brighter and sassy nine-year-old son. He is smitten with an unemployed young woman, and finds work for her at a friend's cafe. The woman, though, is in love with the father's sullen and cynical best friend. When the son suddenly becomes ill, money must be borrowed and somehow repaid, and one of the men will be forced to work in Hokkaido. This is a very strange screenplay, with a convoluted, unpredictable narrative. The father is played winningly by one of Ozu's favorite actors of the 30s and 40s, Takeshi Sakamoto (the following year he would star in Story of Floating Weeds). The score by Lori Goldston (cello) and Elizabeth Falconer (koto) was excellent; the composite print quality was average (except for several sections which survive only from low-quality elements).

I also revisited Floating Weeds (1959) on DVD this week. The picture quality is stunning on this beautiful film---EXCEPT for the incorrect color choices (again, a lavendar sky that should be more aquamarine).

So, I saw 25 Ozu films in the last five weeks (19 projected; 6 on DVD), including 9 silents (one of these on DVD). There are many I look forward to seeing again, but my 15 favorites are (first category lists the best of the best IMHO, otherwise in chronological order):

Woman of Tokyo (1933)
The Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947)
Late Spring (1949)
Tokyo Story (1953) [still my favorite Ozu film]
Equinox Flower (1958)
Ohayo/Good Morning (1959)

I Flunked, But ... (1930)
That Night's Wife (1930)
What Did the Lady Forget? (1937)
There Was a Father (1942)
Early Summer (1951)
Early Spring (1956)
Floating Weeds (1959)
Late Autumn (1960)
The End of Summer (1961)

A remarkable experience. I really hated to see this series end.

[Michael Kerpan]

Thanks for the continuing reports (and concluding summaries) on the Ozu fest in Seattle.

Now that you've seen "Passing Fancy", you can safely read my attempt at analysis.

While in some ways this story is unpredictable, in others it is remarkably highly structured.

"Tokyo Chorus" struck me as Ozu's first attempt to try to capture long sequences that were intended to feel like "real time". I don't think Ozu had gotten this new rhythm down perfectly yet at this point. While there are many wonderful sections, this is one of the few Ozu films that seemed long to me.

"I Flunked But" is lots of fun -- but (among the pure comedies) I liked "Lady and the Beard" and even "Days of Youth" even better.

Criterion won't work any magic on any of the Ozu films. They are only taking the same materials used for the Japanese DVDs (and the new prints) and mucking around with them. At best, they are as good as the Japanese releases, at worst, they aren't. ;~{

[artfilmfan]

Yeah, thanks for all the reports from Seattle. It's a testimony to the high quality of Ozu's films that, to those who have seen most of his films, no less than thirteen are highly rated.

You may want to see (or revisit) Kore'eda's "Maborosi" (get the Japanese DVD if you can) and Hou Hsiao-Hsien's "Dust in the Wind" once you're slightly out of the Ozu state of mind. These are two excellent films and are very reminiscent of Ozu's films.

[Michael Kerpan]

JEONG Jae-eun's "Take Care of My Cat"
HUR Jin-ho's "Christmas in August"
Jun Ichikawa's "Tokyo Lullaby" and "Tokyo Marigold"
Ann Hui's "July Rhapsody"
Isao Takahata's "Only Yesterday"
Isomitchi Isomura's "Ganbatte ikimasshoi"
Takeshi Kitano's "Scene at the Sea"

[artfilmfan]

JEONG Jae-eun's "Take Care of My Cat": This is a wonderful film indeed. (It's third on my list of best Asian films made in the last 10 years).

[Michael Kerpan]

I think it is interesting that Ozu's work has provoked such a significant impact on recent Asian cinema -- 40+ years after his death.

[Steven H]

I just gave What Did The Lady Forget? another look the other day, I enjoyed it more than Flavor of Green Tea (a film it closely resembles)... especially the performances (though I missed Ryu Chishu singing). Interesting to note the differences, the physical violence especially (which parallels the Floating Weeds/Story of Floating Weeds differences as well) and the character interaction. The sister (sister? I don't remember her exact relation in the former) providing the foil by rebelling in quite a different way as the other.

The young woman from What Did The Lady Forget? seems more modern and western than the young woman from Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice. Doesn't this fly in the face of some Ozu theories that his 50s films are comments about how westernized japanese have become since the 30s (generation gap)? Perhaps like many great artists, Ozu thematically complex enough that patterns emerge and are then distorted (I think there's a chapter related to this in Bordwell's book, so I'm not saying anything new, just making an observation). Fascinating stuff. I may have to stop holding off viewing The Only Son for the Criterion release... those 30s era films are amazing. It is a travesty the english speaking video world has neglected these gems.

[Michael Kerpan]

I just gave What Did The Lady Forget? another look the other day, I enjoyed it more than Flavor of Green Tea (a film it closely resembles)... especially the performances (though I missed Ryu Chishu singing). Interesting to note the differences, the physical violence especially (which parallels the Floating Weeds/Story of Floating Weeds differences as well) and the character interaction. The sister (sister? I don't remember her exact relation in the former) providing the foil by rebelling in quite a different way as the other.

I believe the younger woman is a niece of the wife in each film -- the same scenario we find in Naruse's "Repast".

I may like "Lady" just a tiny bit more than "Green Tea" -- but I think The performances in both are equally wonderful. The little bit of violence here is very different from that in "Floating Weeds". Here, it is a shock that changes the overall outlooks of husband, wife and (to a lesser extent) niece.

The young woman from What Did The Lady Forget? seems more modern and western than the young woman from Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice. Doesn't this fly in the face of some Ozu theories that his 50s films are comments about how westernized japanese have become since the 30s (generation gap)? Perhaps like many great artists, Ozu thematically complex enough that patterns emerge and are then distorted (I think there's a chapter related to this in Bordwell's book, so I'm not saying anything new, just making an observation). Fascinating stuff.

I'll have to think about this. In general, most of what has been written in the West about Ozu (outside Bordwell and Hasumi in translation) is pretty specious. ;~}

I may have to stop holding off viewing The Only Son for the Criterion release... those 30s era films are amazing. It is a travesty the english speaking video world has neglected these gems.

I am beginning to think Criterion has lost interest in issuing Ozu on DVD. They simply never realized just how bad the _best_ source materials were. For instance, on recent re-viewing, I found the Shochiku "Late Spring" DVD more problematic than I initially did. This may explain why Criterion's own version is still missing in action.

I think you should manage to get through "Only Son" fine by reading the synopses in Richie and Bordwell.

[Steven H]

Just rewatched Woman of Tokyo and There Was A Father last night. Brilliant stuff, Woman of Tokyo had more male on female violence, this time it seemed to have no large effect on the recipient (maybe she's used to it from the odd patron or two), yet sent the violent party down a despair spiral. At least three variations on domestic violence in just a few years, then nothing of the sort in the 40s (though I still haven't seen Hen In The Wind), 50s (or Munekata Sisters), and 60s. Quite a change in emotional volume. Maybe it's me, but the male lead in Woman of Tokyo, Egawa Ureo, could possibly have given my least favorite performance in an Ozu film, being obvious and all teeth, no dramatic qualities seemed to surface. Okada Yoshiko was fantastic though (Chishu barely recognizable... heh).

There Was A Father... I feel like I had never seen it before ("Chichi ariki", I wonder how else this can be translated). When I first viewed this film I wasn't familiar with Sakamoto Takeshi, but now that I am it makes such a difference. I have a couple of comments about the propaganda that Ozu includes:

1. It's given from a human and fallible source.
2. Said fallible source caused the destruction of an innocent in his care by his own lack of responsibility.

The Father of the film leads an uncertain life. He moves around a lot, changes jobs (including quitting a government job), and is not (although seemingly well intentioned) up to the role of fatherhood. Leaving a child without a parent seems to be portrayed by Ozu in this film as a bad decision (as well as Tenement Gentleman), though certainly not overly sentimental in this approach. I feel Ozu thinks of these things as being negatives. Ozu surely seemed to think living in the same place with your parent is a good thing, since I've read that's exactly what *he* did. So the father is portrayed in a negative light in an auteur context, though he's praised highly in the film. Does this shed a light on his "advice" given throughout during his speeches on resonsibility? Maybe I'm reaching...

The second seems a little more overt and requires little explanation (I suppose). A government official (Chishu, as a young teacher) causes the death of an innocent (Yoshida, a child in his care) while on a trip (boat capsizing incident no less). Could this be read as an allegory for WWII? It could be read that way, but would Ozu be this obvious? I think he would since he had to include all the heavy handed propaganda as well, why not take a shot?

What an amazing film though, some of the best music placement and outdoor shot composition in an Ozu film, I think. If so much wasn't elided, I would call it an epic (might anyway). Or as close to an "epic" you'd get from Ozu.

Michael, how do these films look in the Shochiku set?

Ozu DVDs from Panorama: Ozu's Equinox Flower & Tokyo Twilight

yesasia.com is now listing this as available. I'm very excited, lackluster editions though they may be, this bodes well for more releases.

[Michael Kerpan]

The Shochiuku DVDs look so much better than what I was used to seeing that I probably can't judge them objectively. Both films still seem much the worse for wear, however. I fear that Shochiku goofed up the re-processing of the sound in "There Is a Father" -- as it has a disconnected echo-ey sound while the (near-unwatchable) taped broadcast I have does not.

re: "Woman of Tokyo" -- Egawa Ureo seems to have done a bit better elsewhere, but perhaps one is simply seeing a sort of stylized male film behavior that soon became extinct? (One seems to see echoes of this sometimes in the performances of Masayuki Mori). One would need to see a bigger sample of contemporaneous films. Both Okada and Tanaka are absolutely unbeatable in this film, though.

I agree the propagandistic value of "There Is a Father" is very superficial -- and is undercut in many ways (especially by the ending). It is a small-scale domestic epic -- sort of Ozu's equivalent of Zhang Yimou's "to Live".

"Hen in the Wind" is probably Ozu's most violent film (though "Where are the dreamsof youth" is another contender). Indeed, it is his most rawly physical. It looks a lot more like Imamura than Ozu. I wonder whether it had any precedent? In any event, no one liked it (then). "Munekata Sisters" also involves domestic violence, btw. And don't forget "Floating Weeds".

Ozu DVDs from Panorama: Ozu's Equinox Flower & Tokyo Twilight

Well, I suspect (based on "Late Autumn") that Panorama will at least get the colors right. If only all their Ozu releases could be as decent as this.

Speaking of Panorama -- I can recommend their release of Somai's "Wait and See" (Ah, haru). Not a great masterpiece, perhaps, but an interesting and entertaining film -- sort of a tribute to Yoji Yamada. Ironically, the young director making this tribute would soon be dead, while his mentor still is working away.

[King of Kong]

The first film in our local Ozu retrospective, Late Spring, was screened on Monday night, and I thought I'd say a few words.

I saw Late Spring for the first time last year on the Panorama DVD. Being an Ozu film, I liked it quite a bit, though I didn't think "instant masterpiece" in the way I had after viewing Tokyo Story and Floating Weeds for the first time. A second viewing won me over. It is a quietly beautiful film, and I hope Criterion will get around to releasing it someday, perhaps coupled with the equally great Late Autumn.


I saw What Did The Lady Forget tonight. What a treat - a charming, gentle family comedy, with the Ozu touch evident throughout. There was a big, stupid grin on my face throughout the 70 minutes' duration, and the free-spirited niece from Osaka was simply a delight to watch.

Next up on the menu is Equinox Flower. Can't wait!

The quality of the prints, admittedly, isn't of the best. The crackles, pops, scratches and other artefacts in last night's print of What Did The Lady Forget were mildy distracting, though on the whole, not entirely detrimental to my enjoyment of the film.

Another day, another Ozu. Tonight's film was Equinox Flower. What can I say? Another gem. Even after seeing only 8 of his films, I feel tempted to say that Ozu might be one of the most consistently excellent film-makers in cinema.

Given, there were some slightly melodramatic moments in EF, but nothing approaching the hamminess of Hollywood weepies of the period. I am always surprised at how seamlessly Ozu incorporates comedy into an otherwise sombre narrative, and there are some great comic scenes in EF, particularly those at the Luna Bar. The colour is also well imployed - subtle, yet symphonic in a way - almost like a Vermeer painting (and the red kettle is there in all its glory!) Lovely stuff.

[DDillaman]

I have to say that the dire technical quality of both of the prints screen so far has been driving me batty, especially knowing that there's beautiful prints circulating back in the States. But, also, one other thing, which is probably a personal quirk.

One of Ozu's seemingly recurring characters is the domineering woman who needs to have petty control over other people's lives. To be more precise, the domineering, HIGHLY ANNOYING, MAKES ME WANT TO SCREAM woman. TOKYO STORY, LATE SPRING, and WHAT DID THE LADY FORGET? all have this character, albeit in varying degrees of malevolence.

Is this something I have to look, ahem, forward to from every other Ozu film? Cuz I gotta tell you, it's already trying my patience. I can't fault the execution, to be sure: it's just a character I really don't like to spend time with.

That said, LATE SPRING was a freaking masterpiece.

[Michael Kerpan]

The annoyingly dominating characters --

These are almost always figures intended to provide comic relief. Taking them seriously distorts the impact of the film considerably. Look, for instance, at Shige (Haruko Sugimura) in "Tokyo Story". Her inhospitability gets great comic comeuppance -- and, at the end, her "greediness" is essential to dissipating the atmosphere of total gloom that surrounds the death of the mother. I actually find this type of Ozu character a treat.

If you can't stand the character in Ozu -- you'd better avoid Naruse's "Late Chrysanthemums", where Sugimura holds center stage, playing an even more extreme version of this type of character. Ozu uses this character type in much the way Ozu does. While there are bittersweet segments of this film, this is probably as close as one gets to comedy in late Naruse.

This character type can actually include men. To a large extent, the father (Shin Saburi) in "Equinox Flower" plays a version of this type. In Shimizu's "Kanzashi", Tatsuo Saito is an even more clear-cut male exemplar of this type.

re: "What Did the Lady Forget"

There was a big, stupid grin on my face throughout the 70 minutes' duration, and the free-spirited niece from Osaka was simply a delight to watch.

My reaction too. Our household broke up over the niece's method of "winning" the "spin the globe" game (among other things). Like "Lady and the Beard", an utterly delightful (almost purely) comic treat.

Tonight's film was Equinox Flower ... What can I say? Another gem. I feel tempted to say that Ozu might be one of the most consistently excellent film-makers in cinema.

Give in to the temptation. ;~}

"Equinox Flower" gets both sweeter and funnier with each re-watching. You are so lucky to first meet this in its current, utterly beautiful form. It is now safe for you to peek at the ghastly New Yorker video (which apparently reflects the state of New Yorker's print as well).

[Gregory]

I have to say that the dire technical quality of both of the prints screen so far has been driving me batty, especially knowing that there's beautiful prints circulating back in the States.

I saw What Did the Lady Forget in the U.S. last year and it was one of the most deteriorated Ozu prints I saw.
My reaction to the film: very funny and enjoyable with an intriguing story. Still, today at least, the character of the henpecked professor seems cliched. The resolution struck me implausible and problematic. The marital crisis is solved after the mild-mannered husband delivers a slap to the domineering wife's face. While is immediately remorseful, she is extremely pleased and brags to her friends that he finally stood up to her, and they immediately understand and are happy for her. This suggests that what the lady forgot was her husband's authority. There are power struggles in marriages but they're seldom only that. To me, this did not show Ozu's usual level of understanding of the complexities of marriage and mutual respect.

[Steven H]

One of Ozu's seemingly recurring characters is the domineering woman who needs to have petty control over other people's lives. To be more precise, the domineering, HIGHLY ANNOYING, MAKES ME WANT TO SCREAM woman.

The film you'd want to see is Record of a Tenement Gentleman (or, as it's been said before A Tenement Who's Who). Contained within such celluloid is the petty control/domineering woman (in the context of post war necessity and coldness) as the (arguably) main character, who is, through some strange fortune, given a supposedly parentless child to take care of by. Hilarity ensues.

Haruko Sugimura however is so good at this it's hard to imagine her as anything else (it was almost difficult for me to swallow her caring/nurturing role in Early Summer), and as far as I know she appears in other director's film with similar parts (for instance Naruse's Daughters, Wives, and Mothers). The crooked smile goes a long way towards explaining this typecasting, I suppose.

It's interesting, but (though I haven't seen all of Ozu's films), I can't think of too many pre-war or wartime examples of this character. Kihachi's wife in Stories of Floating Weeds might be given to this category, but not really since her attitude stemed from jealousy, and she seemed quite doting beforehand. There are some serious gaps in my viewing of the extant films of that era though (seen I Flunked But, I Was Born But, Passing Fancy, Woman of Tokyo, Inn in Tokyo, What Did the Lady Forget, Stories of Floating Weeds, There Was a Father, and Toda Family, which leaves about a dozen).

[Michael Kerpan]

Haruko Sugimura however is so good at this it's hard to imagine her as anything else

I think Haruko Sugimura took over (lock, stock and barrel) the function of Choko Iida in Ozu's earlier films. Iida tends to be a bit domineering in most cases where she plays supporting characters. I suspect Iida's significance would be clearer if the lost films were to be magically re-discovered.

I hesitate to argu8e too strenuously about the significance of the ending of "What Did the Lady Forget" until I can get an authoritative translation of the dialogue of the last scenes. My sense is that Ozu draws quite a birt of humor from the discrepancy between what we see actually happen -- and how this is discussed. I think the function of "the slap" is a lot more complex than Gregory seems to find it. If only I could actually _read_ the Ozu script Ihave sitting on my shelf. ;~}

[Gregory]

I hesitate to argue too strenuously about the significance of the ending of "What Did the Lady Forget" until I can get an authoritative translation of the dialogue of the last scenes. My sense is that Ozu draws quite a birt of humor from the discrepancy between what we see actually happen -- and how this is discussed. I think the function of "the slap" is a lot more complex than Gregory seems to find it.

Yes, that may be true. My tentative interpretation of the ending is based on a single viewing, and what seemed like a decent translation may have been off. I'm open (as always) to revise my reading of it on subsequent viewings or when better translation or information comes along.

[Steven H]

I wonder what Ozu would be like if he posted on this forum (let's say he was hypothetically transported to this time or something)? Would he encourage intellectual discourse on his films, or rant and rave about how they're just for entertainment? He would certainly be viewed as narrowminded, just one or two sentences into his ideas about what cinema should be and everyone here would just turn a deaf ear. In fact, I wonder if he wouldn't just make a few flippant wisecracks and then lurk, reading and chuckling over the posts.

(A Bresson or Stroheim would be constantly trolling... imagine the reactions.)

[ellipsis7]

We're really due some more Ozu releases from the CC very soon... Tartan, although inferior, will have some 8 R2 releases out by the end of the summer.... And a couple more are available from AE...

[Michael Kerpan]

We're really due some more Ozu releases from the CC very soon... Tartan, although inferior, will have some 8 R2 releases out by the end of the summer.... And a couple more are available from AE...

Don't hold your breath. ;~{

I can see the delays on the pre-50s films, but the later ones (especially the color ones) have Shochiku sources that are in generally very decent condition.

As Panorama has shown, "Equinox Flower" and "Late Autumn" should not take all that much work (unless Criterion needs more time to study just how to botch color balances again).

[ellipsis7]

Yes, it's two years since the centenary...They've already got 4 titles out (plus the one previous). I would hope a steady stream would continue, as per the Kurosawas etc. Obviously the earlier the film, the more restoration probably needed, but there's still a considerable list of late 40's onwards films seemingly in OK condition to get out... LATE SPRING, EARLY SPRING, TOKYO TWILIGHT, EQUINOX FLOWER, LATE AUTUMN, AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON, RECORD OF A TENEMENT GENTLEMAN, FLAVOUR OF GREEN TEA OVER RICE etc...

[King of Kong]

I almost forgot - one of my favourite parts of Equinox Flower was Chishu Ryu's character's recital of the poem at the high school reunion. I've long been an admirer of Japanese poetry (in translation, unfortunately) and I felt a few tears come to my eyes during this beautiful scene.

[Michael Kerpan]

Chishu Ryu --- singer. I can't think of anyone else in classic Japanese cinema who sings//chants so often. And I love it every time he does.

The first time he takes on such task seems to have been in the silent era. I'm virtually certain that he is the performer one sees at the beginning of "Passing Fancy".

[King of Kong]

DVD Beaver says that Tokyo Ga will be released as part of a Wim Wenders boxset in the near furture. I was hoping Criterion would package it with one of their furture Ozu releases, but...

[zedz]

I think this has come up before (maybe on the old board), but Tokyo Ga as a whole is not strongly Ozu-related, so it would be a weird extra to an Ozu film. In the context of an Ozu release, a few select extracts from it would make a lot more sense. (Not a great analogy, but it would be a little like having the entire Gimme Shelter as an extra on a Gram Parsons DVD).