BFI: 32 Ozu Films

[cj-535]

FYI: Ben Stoddart recently revealed on Facebook that unrestored audio tracks are planned to be included for both of the sound films (A Hen in the Wind and Record of a Tenement Gentleman) in the new set.

[What A Disgrace]

• All three films newly restored and presented in High Definition
• New audio commentary on Dragnet Girl by Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns
• New audio commentary on Record of a Tenement Gentleman by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp
• New audio commentary on A Hen in the Wind by film critic Adrian Martin
• **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet with essays on the films by Bryony Dixon, Tony Rayns and Jonathan Rosenbaum and notes on his score for Dragnet Girl by Ed Hughes

[ryannichols7]

incredible. visiting London currently and about to see Late Autumn at BFI Southbank. this was a good way to get me excited! Rayns exploring the noir angle and Martin the melodrama and atypical nature of Hen are sure to be great listens

[Michael Kerpan]

In some ways Hen is less atypical than most people realize. Their image of Ozu is centered around his last period (starting with Late Spring). Looking at his whole career (including the "atypical" later films like Early Spring and Tokyo Twilight) and taking into account what we know about his lost films, there really is a whole not-thoroughly-processed side of Ozu (which would have been the subject of my never-to-be-written monograph -- Ozu After Dark).

[hearthesilence]

In some ways Hen is less atypical than most people realize. Their image of Ozu is centered around his last period (starting with Late Spring). Looking at his whole career (including the "atypical" later films like Early Spring and Tokyo Twilight) and taking into account what we know about his lost films, there really is a whole not-thoroughly-processed side of Ozu (which would have been the subject of my never-to-be-written monograph -- Ozu After Dark).

Absolutely. IIRC that's mainly due to how his films were distributed in the U.S. and Europe, was it not? Basically his first broad exposure in the West was through his later work, and his earlier films' lack of availability (either from limited distribution or no distribution) ensured that the only Ozu most knew was the later Ozu. I think that was reinforced by the writings of mainstream newspaper critics like Roger Ebert et al - what they covered was typically a reflection of what was broadly available and not just limited to what was playing at Film Forum or Lincoln Center.

[manicsounds]

https://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=7635

If another Ozu set is forthcoming, the other newly restored "I Was Born But" and "There Was a Father" (with 5 minutes of additional footage) would be the likely candidates plus the longer rediscovered cut of "A Straightforward Boy".

[MichaelB]

Absolutely. IIRC that's mainly due to how his films were distributed in the U.S. and Europe, was it not? Basically his first broad exposure in the West was through his later work, and his earlier films' lack of availability (either from limited distribution or no distribution) ensured that the only Ozu most knew was the later Ozu. I think that was reinforced by the writings of mainstream newspaper critics like Roger Ebert et al - what they covered was typically a reflection of what was broadly available and not just limited to what was playing at Film Forum or Lincoln Center.

I have this headache all the time when talking about eastern European filmmakers, where I cannot sensibly assume that my audience will be familiar with their work beyond the films under immediate discussion.

It can be quite a tricky balancing act, because I may simultaneously be catering for people who are familiar, but I generally assume (most likely correctly) that they're in the minority. And when I record a commentary, with very few exceptions (and I always provide an explanation to justify those exceptions, such as describing the plot of Miklós Jancsó's pretty much impossible to find Dawn rather than simply namechecking it), I generally only flag up stuff that I know for a fact is or has been available in English-friendly form somewhere, even if it's only on a DVD that you have to import from the source country. That still allows me to cover a pretty wide range, but it means that I'm never going to go down the IMDB checklist route of merely listing titles purely in order to fill the timeslot, which I suspect is a mercy.

[Peacock]

https://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=7635

If another Ozu set is forthcoming, the other newly restored "I Was Born But" and "There Was a Father" (with 5 minutes of additional footage) would be the likely candidates plus the longer rediscovered cut of "A Straightforward Boy".

Is this additional footage found for There Was a Father the war related stuff? Anyone?

[kindaikun]

The original version at the time of release was recorded as having a main length of 94 minutes and a film length of 2,588 meters. The film, which made reference to the social conditions and war of the time, was re-released in 1945 during the postwar occupation period, and many scenes were cut from the original version due to GHQ censorship, and the material (16mm master positive) at Shochiku had its length shortened to 87 minutes.

The restoration was carried out in a joint project between the National Film Archive and Shochiku, and the 4K digital restoration (full 4K (4K resolution = 4096 x 3112) scan, 4KDCP) was performed using a 4K scan of both a 16mm master positive owned by Shochiku and a newly discovered 35mm print in Russia, held by the National Film Archive (72 minutes). By comparing the images and sounds of both versions and combining the missing parts, the restoration was carried out to be as close as possible to the original version released in 1942. The 4K digitally restored version that will be shown in Venice will run for 92 minutes.

From https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2288340/full/

[Peacock]

Thank you. It sounds like (long time since I’ve seen this film so may be misremembering) the war propaganda speeches during a ceremony inside the film are the parts that were found then. It’ll be interesting to see how didactic they are or if Ozu managed to make them fit with the rest of the film.

[ryannichols7]

In some ways Hen is less atypical than most people realize. Their image of Ozu is centered around his last period (starting with Late Spring). Looking at his whole career (including the "atypical" later films like Early Spring and Tokyo Twilight) and taking into account what we know about his lost films, there really is a whole not-thoroughly-processed side of Ozu (which would have been the subject of my never-to-be-written monograph -- Ozu After Dark).

Absolutely. IIRC that's mainly due to how his films were distributed in the U.S. and Europe, was it not? Basically his first broad exposure in the West was through his later work, and his earlier films' lack of availability (either from limited distribution or no distribution) ensured that the only Ozu most knew was the later Ozu. I think that was reinforced by the writings of mainstream newspaper critics like Roger Ebert et al - what they covered was typically a reflection of what was broadly available and not just limited to what was playing at Film Forum or Lincoln Center.

it's not fully atypical - Ozu is my favorite director and I know how he works with heavy themes rather often. I'm long one of the champions of his comedy rather than the profound sadness his movies often get labeled as for some reason (that reason being people only seeing Tokyo Story). Early Spring is vastly underrated in his filmography, and a rather big surprise at him looking at suitors in a very Scarlet Street type of way (this is a bit of a reductive comment, but I'll keep it short). so when I say Hen is atypical, I'm talking about how it

Spoiler

is the only Ozu movie to feature a woman being thrown down stairs, and overall it does feel like Mizoguchi melodrama more than any of his other movies do

but yes, his work is still somewhat colored this way. people do recognize Good Morning as a comedy but talk less about Equinox Flower or Late Autumn (until the end) being broadly hilarious. Tokyo Story, Late Spring, and An Autumn Afternoon remain the three most popular, and they're essentially the saddest. I do hope impressions of the diversity of tone in his filmography change over time. hopefully with more releases...

https://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=7635

If another Ozu set is forthcoming, the other newly restored "I Was Born But" and "There Was a Father" (with 5 minutes of additional footage) would be the likely candidates plus the longer rediscovered cut of "A Straightforward Boy".

Early Spring and Tokyo Twilight were never released on Bluray by the BFI, or in the English speaking world at all (only in the Eclipse set). both could stand to be released, and I brought this up to Ben Stoddart before. they're all under the same rightsholders. I understand him not being as keen on Early Summer, Equinox Flower, Late Autumn, etc being reissued with the new transfers, but since those two films got shut out entirely (and are his last black and white films), I would love to see a box of these four, as all are Shochiku licenses

[Peacock]

Early Spring and Tokyo Twilight were never released on Bluray by the BFI, or in the English speaking world at all (only in the Eclipse set). both could stand to be released, and I brought this up to Ben Stoddart before. they're all under the same rightsholders. I understand him not being as keen on Early Summer, Equinox Flower, Late Autumn, etc being reissued with the new transfers, but since those two films got shut out entirely (and are his last black and white films), I would love to see a box of these four, as all are Shochiku licenses

Maybe I’m misreading this but Early Spring and Tokyo Twilight were both released by BFI (on DVD only) so not just the Eclipse set. And the latter film also was part of one of the Tartan sets as well. So they were as “shut out” as Hen in the Wind and Dragnet Girl. So I’m hopeful we get Blu’s! Tokyo Inn is probably a more urgent one though as it never got a DVD on either side of the pond.

[Michael Kerpan]

Tokyo Inn is probably the best Ozu film (one of my personal top favorites) in really poor condition. I suspect that nothing can help with the parts in direst condition. Has any major company released a blu-ray of a poorly-preserved (sort of) silent film?

[Peacock]

Tokyo Inn is probably the best Ozu film (one of my personal top favorites) in really poor condition. I suspect that nothing can help with the parts in direst condition. Has any major company released a blu-ray of a poorly-preserved (sort of) silent film?

Well of course. The bonus films on the Criterion Lonesome disk, parts of Metropolis, perhaps Pandora’s Box?

I don’t remember Tokyo Inn being in particularly bad shape when I saw it at the Ozu retrospective a few years ago that did a tour. So there is at least one acceptable projection print out there, although MichaelB did just say somewhere in the forum that they aren’t the best to work with necessarily.

Although this was a few years ago, and I bow to your superior knowledge of the prints out there on this one, I may be misremembering its quality.

[Michael Kerpan]

Peacock -- there are sequences where the image has almost "vanished" -- and not sure if there are outright gaps. I have such a strong impression of the film's content that it is always a shock to see how deteriorated it is at points. (Not a "print" problem -- but rather that the best/only source for prints is in very poor shape).

[Stefan Andersson]

https://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=7635

If another Ozu set is forthcoming, the other newly restored "I Was Born But" and "There Was a Father" (with 5 minutes of additional footage) would be the likely candidates plus the longer rediscovered cut of "A Straightforward Boy".

Quite a worthwhile review, with technical restoration info and an explanation of why Record of a Tenement Gentleman is a mistranslation of the Japanese title.

[Michael Kerpan]

Nagaya shinshiroku -- As I recall, Donald Richie (somewhat sheepishly) acknowledged, when coming up with English title tranlations for Japanese films in the early days, he did not yet know how to use kanji dictionaries (which not only give meanings for separate characters but also for multiple character compounds -- which often do not mean the same as the sum of the constituent parts).

[pistolwink]

Given how obscure that film is—it's not as though the title itself is going to draw a lot of customers, as opposed to Ozu's name— you'd think they'd just use a more accurate title for new releases, sort of like how The Bicycle Thief became Bicycle Thieves at some point.

[MichaelB]

This is always a tricky judgement call, and while Criterion were absolutely right to fix the notorious mistranslation of the unarguably plural Ladri di biciclette, that’s a rare exception. They didn’t, for instance, correct The 400 Blows, even though it makes little sense in English, being a literal translation of a French idiom - and I can see why they didn’t.

I once had to make a judgement call like that over Paolo and Vittorio Taviani’s La notte di San Lorenzo, which went under no fewer than three titles in my native Britain: The Night of San Lorenzo (UK theatrical), The Night of Saint Lawrence (Channel 4 screening) and The Night of the Shooting Stars (the Arrow release, sanctioned personally by me).

The latter is the US title, and I think it works best, because English-speaking audiences most likely aren’t going to know that the night of San Lorenzo/Saint Lawrence is the night of the shooting stars. Also, from a more pragmatic perspective, two of the three contributors to the Arrow Taviani box were American while the third one was me, and I could easily persuade myself to go along - so The Night of the Shooting Stars it was.

But, again, as with Bicycle Thieves, it wasn’t such a huge change that it ran the risk of people misidentifying what it was - especially since it was in a Taviani box set, with no plans to release it separately.

[swo17]

If they changed this title they'd have to change Early Summer, End of Summer, and Autumn Afternoon as well

[hearthesilence]

I've always hated The Puppetmaster for Hou Hsiao-hsien's 戲夢人生, especially when the horror franchise that was already titled that will pop up instead when you do a search. At minimum, they should add a parenthetical title of Also Like Life or Dream Life when it finally gets re-issued in the U.S.

[Michael Kerpan]

swo17 -- Also Late Autumn (Lovely Autumn Day/Fine Autumn Weather or something of that sort).

[pistolwink]

If they changed this title they'd have to change Early Summer, End of Summer, and Autumn Afternoon as well

Not necessarily... some of those titles are vaguely in the ballpark, at least in terms of what they might evoke, while "Record of a Tenement Gentleman" is just an out-and-out mistranslation that makes no sense applied to the film it names (it also sounds like a Gilbert & Sullivan lyric). Also, again, those films (well, at least Early Summer and Autumn Afternoon) are reasonably well known under those names, having had some real distribution theatrically and home video, while Nagaya shinshiroku is practically unknown except to Ozu die-hards.

I've always hated The Puppetmaster for Hou Hsiao-hsien's 戲夢人生, especially when the horror franchise that was already titled that will pop up instead when you do a search. At minimum, they should add a parenthetical title of Also Like Life or Dream Life when it finally gets re-issued in the U.S.

I recall reading that it was Edward Yang who gave some of Hou's films their English titles. Not sure about that particular one, but I recall that being the case for The Time to Live and the Time to Die, which I've long felt was a clunky title (esp. the inapposite Biblical reference, see also Dust in the Wind) compared to the more modest, and more literal, Childhood Memories.

[hearthesilence]

Dust in the Wind is another that has some unfortunate baggage tied to American culture. I never liked the music from the band Kansas, but when I was growing up, I felt like that song got a lot of "classic rock" play, and it was used prominently in a tongue-in-cheek TV commercial that aired for a long time.

But aside from those two films, it's interesting if the English titles were picked out by Yang just as an interpretive element to think about - a little bit like seeing Godard making trailers for other filmmakers.

[pistolwink]

Yang definitely picked English titles for his own films that weren't usually direct translations but instead reflected a different motif or theme of the films. Although Yang was fluent in English, I feel like he had something of a tin ear for English-language titles.