Yasujiro Ozu

[Michael Kerpan]

Of course, "late spring" won't arrive until early June.

[shirobamba]

Rufus T. Firefly reports that Panorama is about to release the next Ozu: A Mother Should Be Loved

Hopefully this announces the beginning of the next slate of Ozus by Panorama including the silents.

Available from Play-Asia.

Here is the direct link for the Panorama listing.

[Michael Kerpan]

Great news. I've found most of the Panorama Ozu releases I've seen to be acceptable so far. And I would expect the relatively short early films to turn out well.

(Not a big fan of "Mother Should be Loved", however). ;~}

[ellipsis7]

Should be interesting, despite the missing reels...

I'll wait for Yesasia to put it up to avail of the free shipping...

[Michael Kerpan]

Should be interesting, despite the missing reels...

It is certainly worth seeing -- I'm not sure what I would think of this if it had its missing first and last reels. I suspect it would not rank near the top (or upper middle) of my Ozu list even if complete -- as it is more floridly melodramatic than Ozu's norm,

[rlendog]

Hopefully Panorama will release some more all region DVDs.

[ellipsis7]

Ozu #4 is at £12.99 plus p & p @ Bensonsworld...

Dragnet Girl now available from Yesasia...

[Mr Sheldrake]

Where Now Are The Dreams Of Youth is playing at the Dryden Theater of the Eastman House in Rochester NY in early October. As I am heading to the Shaw Festival in Ontario that week I will probably catch this on the way, even though print quality, judging from previous posts, may not be good. Live piano score.

[wiljan]

David Bordwell's long OOP book Ozu and the poetics of cinema is now available online, with a new introduction and new color pictures.

[Michael Kerpan]

Of the Panorama DVDs of silentsand early talkies, I especially recommend...

Days of Youth (if you are a Harold Lloyd fan -- a must-see -- probably the best Lloyd film not made by Lloyd)

Passing Fancy -- see my Senses of Cinema article

Woman of Tokyo & Dragnet Girl -- Ozu gangster noir

Tokyo Inn -- my favorite Ozu silent 9along with I Was Born But)

Only Son (Criterion may release this eventually -- but a must-have film)

Of course, I think all the available films are worth seeing...

MEK

[ellipsis7]

MK - is A WOMAN OF TOKYO released by Panorama yet?... I've been looking for it and can't see it presently @ yesasia.com...

[sidehacker]

Of the Panorama DVDs of silentsand early talkies, I especially recommend...

Days of Youth (if you are a Harold Lloyd fan -- a must-see -- probably the best Lloyd film not made by Lloyd)

Passing Fancy -- see my Senses of Cinema article

Woman of Tokyo & Dragnet Girl -- Ozu gangster noir

Tokyo Inn -- my favorite Ozu silent 9along with I Was Born But)

Only Son (Criterion may release this eventually -- but a must-have film)

Of course, I think all the available films are worth seeing...

MEK

Arigato, I'll go after these next.

[Michael Kerpan]

MK - is A WOMAN OF TOKYO released by Panorama yet?... I've been looking for it and can't see it presently @ yesasia.com...

I could have sworn this one was out already, but I don't see it listed anywhere either.

Too bad. The wonderful "Walk cheerfully" is also still missing.

BTW -- I should have recommended "What Did the Lady Forget?" (esp. for Lubitsch fans).

[sidehacker]

While I'm at it, I'm planning on renting Tokyo-Ga. Should I get the disc from the Wenders boxset or the second disc of the Late Spring set?

[Michael Kerpan]

While I'm at it, I'm planning on renting Tokyo-Ga. Should I get the disc from the Wenders boxset or the second disc of the Late Spring set?

I wouldn't think it mattered. It's not very good cinematically speaking -- only valuable for the interviews with Chishu Ryi and (cameraman) Yuharu Atsuta (and the funny little snippet of Werner Herzog visiting Japan).

[sidehacker]

I don't mean to brag but Donald Sosin left me a comment about an upcoming Ozu silent boxset - link.

[futilitarian]

I don't mean to brag but Donald Sosin left me a comment about an upcoming Ozu silent boxset - link.

Good news indeed. Sort of. If they are just being scored it may not be released for quite a while. Now I have to impatiently wait.

[fiddlesticks]

I am currently scoring I WAS BORN BUT… , TOKYO CHORUS and PASSING FANCY for a Criterion set that will come out later this year.

I suppose you (futilitarian) could take some solace in the phrase "later this year," although it seems that this often turns out to mean "in the semi-distant future."

The intriguing word in that for me is "Criterion." I've been anticipating the long-awaited Ozu Silents box to be Eclipse, but I suppose they wouldn't commission new scores for an Eclipse set. A full-on Criterion treatment for (at least) 3 Ozu silents? Sounds great, but I'd better start saving my nickles and dimes now.

[futilitarian]

The Eclipse thread was updated with info on the silent set. It will be set #10.

The Eclipse page

[Adam]

For those of you in Los Angeles in March & April, The Silent Movie Theatre is showing early Ozu, prints from Janus Films.

Here is March:

Known in the West for his string of poignant dramas of middle class Japanese life produced in the 1950s and early 1960s, Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963) began his career as an unabashed devotee of Hollywood cinema in the silent era’s golden heyday. He was especially enamored of Harold Lloyd (a hugely popular actor for Japanese audiences,) Charles Chaplin and King Vidor. Many of Ozu’s early films are built around eager young men in college or just out of college, much like Harold Lloyd’s persona, a resourceful, success-seeking go-getter who was perfectly in tune with 1920s era America. Like Chaplin, Ozu introduced a touch of pathos into his comedies that gave them an underlying somber tone that was to emerge more forcefully in his late contemplative masterpieces. Unlike his later films, these early comedies also contained an element of social criticism, the legacy of Vidor as seen in Three Wise Fools, The Crowd and Wine of Youth.

3/2 @ 7pm / SERIES: ozu's early comedies
Walk Cheerfully
Ozu takes a genre blending approach with an emphasis on comedy in this highly stylized, fast paced entertainment. Walk Cheerfully combines crime, drama, comedy, and romance while recalling obvious inspirations and references to many of the Hollywood silent films Ozu loved. Stylistically, the familiar Ozu aesthetic is not much in evidence, yet there are still visual motifs and patterns that look forward to the mature work. The film takes on multiple plot layers, but the focus is on Kenji, a petty thief who decides to go straight after he falls for a sweet woman (Yasue). Kenji's girlfriend, a femme fatale who evokes Louise Brooks, tries to lure him back into a life of crime, only to turn on him and hand him over to the police. The unexpected style and pace- including a skillful execution of camera movement and expressionistic devices make this picture unique in Ozu’s oeuvre.
Dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 1930, 35mm, 96 min.

3/9 @ 7pm / SERIES: ozu's early comedies
The Lady And The Beard
Okajima, a college student with invincible kendo sword fighting skills, both vexes and amuses women with his conservative ways and his big, brushy beard which he carries with pride. In an interview with Donald Richie, Ozu said of this picture, “Okada Tokihiko [the “Beard”] gave a smashing performance. The film's a knock out! Even though it only took eight days to shoot, response was much better than that of Young Miss, my previous picture This film business is so unpredictable.” Ozu here deftly inflects a Harold Lloyd plot with a touch of raku go Japanese farce.
Dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 1931 35mm, 75 min.

3/16 @ 7pm / SERIES: ozu's early comedies
Tokyo Chorus
Thematically Tokyo Chorus anticipates some of Ozu’s later mature work, but stylistically Ozu is clearly taking a Hollywood influenced approach to his material. One of the strands of the film concerns the contrast between urban and suburban living. Tokyo Chorus is remarkably moving, particularly in the way Ozu captures without sentiment and with humor the struggle of a salaryman to provide for his family during the Depression. There are some outstanding images and sequences within this film that are among Ozu’s best, and here he perfectly balances humor and pathos. With a screenplay by Noda Kogo who became Ozu’s favored writer and who worked on many of his later masterpieces (Tokyo Story, An Autumn Afternoon) Ozu deftly combines the eager young man on the go situation of a Harold Lloyd film with some of the social criticism found in King Vidor’s The Crowd, another Ozu favorite.
Dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 1930, 35mm, 90 min.

3/23 @ 7pm / SERIES: ozu's early comedies
I Was Born, But...
As in most of Ozu's thirties pictures, the visual style is far more expressive then that of his post-war work. Ozu always got great performances from child actors, and this film is essentially expressed through the two boys. I Was Born, But… marked one of Ozu's earliest successes as a filmmaker, both financially and critically, as the film was a box office success and also won the Kinema Jumpo poll as best Japanese film of the year. It's a witty comedy, but the film also has a touch of pathos drawn from another Ozu favorite Charlie Chaplin. Ozu himself loosely remade the film in color in 1959 under the title Ohayo (Good Morning.)
Dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 1932, 35mm, 100 min.

3/30 @ 7pm / SERIES: ozu's early comedies
What Did The Lady Forget?
The lives of hen-pecked Professor Komiya and his socialite wife Tokiko are turned upside down when their spoilt niece Setsuko comes to stay with them from Osaka. Setsuko is a “moga” (modern girl,) and Ozu gets a chance to satirize contemporary social mores in this movie. The film is a social satire of the upper class and it even mixes in elements of screwball comedy. Ernst Lubitsch seems to be an influence here. Ultimately this is Ozu at his most lighthearted. What Did the Lady Forget is a wonderful comedy highlighted by terrific performances. This may not be the most significant film Ozu ever made, but it is one of his most charming comedies.
Dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 1937, 35mm, 71 min.

[Michael Kerpan]

All these Ozu films are must-sees or close...

I Was Born But (probably the "greatest" of the lot) needs little comment...

Walk Cheerfully -- probably Ozu's most visually playful film ever (at least of those that survive). He plays cinematic tricks here that he never tries elsewhere. The story is a bit thin -- but this is not the main attraction of the film.

What Did the Lady Forget -- Ozu's tribute to Lubitsch -- but with softer edges (it seems to anticpate Lubitsch films not yet made). Ozu re-visited this (in part) after the war (Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice) -- but this is a must-see on account of Sumiko Kurishima (Japan's first star actress - in one of her few surviving films).

Tokyo Chorus -- This was the first Ozu film that attempted the sort of things that would later became the standard elements of his late films. Most significantly, he attempts to manage a slower pace than that which he used in his earlier films. Also of note, a (front) toothless, six-year-old Hideko Takamine -- playing Tomio Aoki's little sister. (Her first really major role would come later in the year, after she turned seven -- in Shimizu's "Seven Seas").

Lady and the Beard -- the "least" of the batch -- I suppose. But it is probably Ozu's purest comedy (of the surviving films). Very silly -- but also often very funny. Our family thought it was a hoot.

[backstreetsbackalright]

Lady and the Beard -- the "least" of the batch -- I suppose. But it is probably Ozu's purest comedy (of the surviving films). Very silly -- but also often very funny. Our family thought it was a hoot.

I'll back that up. I wasn't really all that excited for this one when it came to Seattle, but it turned out to be thoroughly enjoyable. Don't skip this one on account of its "lesser" status to something so incredible as I Was Born, But... Rather, bring your friends!

[Michael Kerpan]

I'll back that up. I wasn't really all that excited for {Lady and the Beard} when it came to Seattle, but it turned out to be thoroughly enjoyable. Don't skip this one on account of its "lesser" status to something so incredible as I Was Born, But... Rather, bring your friends!

Very little (probably none) of "lesser" Ozu is negligible. Pretty much every bit of his surviving work is well worth seeing (even Munekata Sisters). ;~}

[backstreetsbackalright]

...(even Munekata Sisters). ;~}

It strikes me all of a sudden that I've not seen Munekata. And I can't think of any other of Ozu's extant material that I haven't seen. Is this on DVD anywhere?

[Michael Kerpan]

It strikes me all of a sudden that I've not seen Munekata. And I can't think of any other of Ozu's extant material that I haven't seen. Is this on DVD anywhere?

This is on (unsubbed) DVD in Japan and Spanish-subbed DVD in Spain -- but I still rely on my French-subbed (out-of-print) video.

;~}