Yasujiro Ozu

[Tommaso]

"The Only Son" will be included with the new BFI set of "Late Spring", and eventually the BFI will release 32 Ozu films in what I expect to be the finest transfers available. No need to go for the Japanese sets, especially if you don't understand Japanese.

[Michael Kerpan]

32 films still leaves 5 missing. ;~}

One might need to get the Shochiku set with the oldest silents in order to get those last five. Or may Munekata sisters will be one of the "neglected 5" (as its ownership is more complicated).

Alas -- in some cases -- the "best copies" might be the "only copies" -- and be fairly dire no matter what.

[ellipsis7]

32 films still leaves 5 missing. ;~}

One might need to get the Shochiku set with the oldest silents in order to get those last five. Or may Munekata sisters will be one of the "neglected 5" (as its ownership is more complicated).

Alas -- in some cases -- the "best copies" might be the "only copies" -- and be fairly dire no matter what.

It's 32 + the 2 already out from AE (Floating Weeds & End of Summer)=34, thus 3 missing (correct me, MK, if wrong)...

Hope BFI will be aware how much discussion the grading of the colour films may provoke, not least from your own well considered judgement... It is an opportunity to deliver definitive releases in this respect...

[stalker_ozu]

What would be faster that Criterion do the thing?? or go for the BFI?? I will not buy those overlapping blu rays, I am happy with the criterions Ozu (I expended a lot of money in dvds why throw them out?).

[stalker_ozu]

"The Only Son" will be included with the new BFI set of "Late Spring", and eventually the BFI will release 32 Ozu films in what I expect to be the finest transfers available. No need to go for the Japanese sets, especially if you don't understand Japanese.

Oh great, I will have to buy a blu ray player only to play a good quality dvd of The Only Son. Where will they put THERE WAS A FATHER?

[stalker_ozu]

BFI you are my heros!! I am just happy about the news!

[Tommaso]

Oh great, I will have to buy a blu ray player only to play a good quality dvd of The Only Son. Where will they put THERE WAS A FATHER?

You don't have to buy a blu player, as this will be a dual blu/SD release for "Late Spring", and "The Only Son" will not get the blu treatment, anyway. More details can be found in the dedicated thread in the BFI section of this forum.

[BB]

Heads up, Ozu 6/12- 6/17 at VIZ Cinema in Japantown San Francisco.

Tokyo Story
The Only Son
Record of a Tenement Gentleman
Early Spring

vizcinema.com
Nice, (if very well hidden) brand new theatre. And yes... it has very comfy seats!

[dad1153]

Another beautifully written (if elliptical) piece on Ozu from craig keller. (sidenote) the fascination of Mr.Kellers prose style resides in its proustian quality;he appears interested not only in relaying narrative information and critical judgements but also in capturing fleeting emotional reactions or sensations!. I wonder if anyone else reads the man's blog?.

[Leo Wong]

Ozu List

[movielocke]

I was looking again at the Naruse release (wish it wasn't two months away!) and was pretty delighted, once again, that they're double-featuring the shorter works which lets them get five movies on three discs. I would hope they can use two discs on Ozu's films and get six or so out on the next release, I'd think these I listed below are priority (and I believe are complete films) I don't know what Kagamijishi is, but a four disc set with eight of these would be phenomenal. I've seen Walk Cheerfully and Lady and the Beard and badly want to see the others (especially an Inn at Tokyo and A Mother Should be Loved and Dragnet Girl) but am not going to go multi-region to do it (I'm addicted to home entertainment already and spend too much, no need to open me to an entirely new market to my addiction ).


Days Of Youth
Walk Cheerfully
The Lady and the Beard
Where Now Are The Dreams Of Youth?
Woman Of Tokyo
Dragnet Girl
A Mother Should Be Loved
An Inn In Tokyo
Kagamijishi

and, iirc, if they were to do a crime/gangsters one it would be: Walk Cheerfully, Lady and the Beard, Woman of Tokyo and Dragnet Girl which would make a pretty solid set on its own.

[Michael Kerpan]

Kagamijishi is a documentary about a famous kabuki star from the 30s, showing both some backstage moments and performance excerpts (including a lion dance). It was Ozu's first sound film (but his first talkie feature was still a year or so away).

I don't believe there are good subbed releases of any of these early films in any region (and NO subbed releases at all of several). I still rely on my unsubbed R2 Japanese DVDs (though there are fan-subs of some of this stuff floating about).

[Peacock]

Several months ago on here (although there's a small chance it was on Mubi), I saw a post which either had an image, or linked to one, of just a couple of pages from a scene or two from Tokyo Story's shot list - in Japanese, with aperture and lens etc; it was quite interesting but I haven't been able to find it since, with the scarcity of things like this on the web, I'm sure someone must know what I'm referring to and be able to point me in the right direction??

edit: Ah, searched around and it could have been a larger version of figure 2 from this page, posted on here so it was legible?

[zedz]

iirc, if they were to do a crime/gangsters one it would be: Walk Cheerfully, Lady and the Beard, Woman of Tokyo and Dragnet Girl which would make a pretty solid set on its own.

You should add That Night's Wife to the hypothetical gangster set, which I agree is a great idea. Surely it would be a good publicity angle to shake up some of the cozy popular assumptions about Ozu at this stage of the reissue programme.

[Michael Kerpan]

Woman of Tokyo and Tokyo Inn also feature criminal actions as prominent elements of those films.

[Stefan Andersson]

movielocke: A Mother Should Be Loved and A Hen in the Wind are announced as part of BFI´s next Ozu releases.

Michael Kerpan: Munakata Sisters had a release on French VHS (now OOP, very rare) from Arte. No DVD. Sad to hear about rights complications.

[Michael Kerpan]

I bought that that French video of Munekata Sisters (and also of Tokyo Twilight - which was also only available from France way back then). ;~{

[Leo Wong]

@Peacock Sorry I can't help you, but your link makes me ask: Is a digital restoration of Tokyo Story available? If anyone has seen it, how does it compare with, say, the Criterion version?

[Michael Kerpan]

Is a digital restoration of Tokyo Story available? If anyone has seen it, how does it compare with, say, the Criterion version?

No, the University of Tokyo's Tokyo Story restoration project is not available (query: was it ever finished?) in any fashion (even as a print, so far as I know).

The only DVDs of Munekata Sisters I've ever heard about are the Japanese one (no subs) and the Spanish one (Spanish subs).

[Leo Wong]

The only DVDs of Munekata Sisters I've ever heard about are the Japanese one (no subs) and the Spanish one (Spanish subs).

How good are the subs available on the Internet, e.g. at allsub.org?

[Michael Kerpan]

The only DVDs of Munekata Sisters I've ever heard about are the Japanese one (no subs) and the Spanish one (Spanish subs).

How good are the subs available on the Internet, e.g. at allsub.org?

Check them out -- and then report back to us. ;~}

(Munekata Sisters is one of my my least favorite Ozu films -- I don't dislike it, but don't love it much either). Seeing it subbed in English (eventually) didn't increase my appreciation a whole lot. The film is way too talky -- and way too plot-heavy (not Ozu's fault -- he was constrained by Shintoho to handle the film in this way).

[Leo Wong]

Will wait until I get a copy of the film, which is way too expensive now.

The topic of "least favorite Ozu films" might be fruitful, if it hasn't already been done to death already (I'm new here). So far my least favorite is Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family, which I saw in New York at the IFC Center this fall and more recently on DVD. Seemed like first draft Ozu. The plot, though, did remind me of King Lear.

[Michael Kerpan]

Todas was, in considerable part, inspired by McCarey's Make Way For Tomorrow. (Ozu's screenwriter partner was familiar with the film -- though Ozu had not seen it). While the focus changed from two elderly parents to one elderly widow and her youngest (as yet unmarried) daughter, Todas borrows both a number of incidents and the overall tone from McCarey's film.

A wonderful Japanese film that IS based much more explicitly on KIng Lear -- Yasujiro Shimazu's "Ai yo jinrui to tomo ni are" (no known sensible title translation) -- set in contemporary (1930-ish) Japan.

[Leo Wong]

That's interesting, since I had heard of the McCarey being the inspiration for Tokyo Story. I liked Make Way for Tomorrow, though I consider it corny.

I hope Todas was not based on King Lear. I generally don't like films based on classics I know.

[Michael Kerpan]

Kogo Noda (co-screen writer of Tokyo Story) was also familiar with McCarey's film -- but I'd say Tokyo Story is sort of a rejoinder to Make Way (and maybe the earlier Todas).