Yasujiro Ozu

[Stefan Andersson]

Two new Ozu books, French-language, published in October 2023 by Carlotta Films.

Relevant quote:
"In Yasujiro Ozu: une affaire de famille, the Japanese film expert Pascal-Alex Vincent considers his filmography in which the theme of family is at the heart and to which his own Ozu-gumi (the Ozu clan) was essential. The second book offers another look at the oft-neglected turbulence, whether professionally, intimately or in the family, which Ozu had to face in his life. Complementing Carlotta’s 2020 reissue of Carnets d’Ozu (Ozu’s Diaries), Ozu, hors-champs is a translation of the 2013 biography of the filmmaker written by the Japanese journalist Térui Yasuo. His knowledge of the extensive bibliography devoted to Ozu in Japan offers new information to non-Japanese readers."

Source:
https://sabzian.be/news/new-book-releases-winter-2024

[Stefan Andersson]

Good reference materials:
http://www.a2pcinema.com/ozu-san/ozu.htm

[Matt]

If one can read French, Shigehiko Hasumi's book on Ozu (published in translation by Cahiers du Cinema) offers some pretty useful criticisms of the way most Western critics have interpreted Ozu's films (he seems to be least harsh with Bordwell).

This is now available in an English translation.

[Michael Kerpan]

Matt -- I haven't gotten Ryan's translation yet (very excited to see this is coming out this month). (disclaimer -- Ryan Cook and Aaron Gerow are long-time friends of mine).

[Matt]

The Munekata Sisters - who knows what's going on with this? supposedly owned by Toho but it's basically the one surviving film not on the Criterion channel, also the only surviving film I haven't seen

making its channel debut on 01 December.

I finally caught up with this, also (I think) my last unseen extant Ozu. I thought it might be a minor work, but it wasn’t! Maybe it suffers in reputation from falling smack in the middle of the Noriko trilogy, but it’s a great exploration of the tension between tradition and modernity in postwar Japan as embodied in the two sisters (the responsibly married but unhappy Kinuyo Tanaka and Hideko Takamine, her Coke-drinking bratty younger sister). I happened to watch it as part of an unintentional double feature with Tanaka’s own Love Letter which explores a similar theme (as well as the shared theme of women struggling to overcome decisions they made in younger, more carefree days). The Tanaka, while obviously under the influence of Ozu, is almost a neorealist film* in comparison and, like many Naruse films, much more concerned with its characters’ economic survival than Ozu.

*There’s a cool sequence that follows a character through the streets of the busy city shot among the actual crowds and traffic that is almost Rossellini-esque.

[Michael Kerpan]

Munekata Sisters has always been one of my least favorite Ozu films -- but maybe if I watch it with proper subtitles I will feel differently. My main problem was always that it felt MUCH more "talky" than the average Ozu film (and Ozu WAS required to follow the source story -- a newly published popular novel --much more tightly than was his norm).

[tenia]

Does anybody here knows if Floating Weeds should have a color-grading similar to The End of Summer ?
My understanding is that the 4K resto of Floating Weeds has this now-quite specific grading (very pale green with red sticking out visibly) because it was shot on Agfacolor (1) and Ozu and Miyagawa wanted to attenuate every color except red (2).

The new 4k restoration of The End of Summer brings the movie quite close to that, and aside from the other 4K/2K Ozu restoration (An Autumn Afternoon, Late Autumn, Equinox Flower, etc), but I'm quite surprised by this, as it seemed to me, so far, that the look of Floating Weeds was supposed to be very specific to that movie, and thus fail to understand why The End of Summer should look like this too.

A few examples :
https://testsblurayfr.files.wordpress.c ... r-2024.jpg
https://testsblurayfr.files.wordpress.c ... r-2024.jpg
https://testsblurayfr.files.wordpress.c ... r-2024.jpg
https://testsblurayfr.files.wordpress.c ... r-2024.jpg

Also : the very early night shot of the billboards seems to me to have been artificially re-done. I doubt the difference in sharpness is due to the youth of the new master or has been obtained via traditional filtering tools.
Previous master : https://testsblurayfr.files.wordpress.c ... r-2020.jpg
New master : https://testsblurayfr.files.wordpress.c ... r-2024.jpg

[Michael Kerpan]

With all previous versions of End of Summer that I know of, the predominant palette has been full of very rich golds, browns and reds -- a rather unique look compared to other Ozu films. On the other hand, the dominant tones one notices in Floating Weeds were the rich blues. Both these seem to me to have had a different palette from the Shochiku Ozu films -- despite using the same film type.

[tenia]

I too have never seen the movie looking like this, and it's interesting to see it's now close to a different movie whose new restoration has a look similar to it. It's hard not to wonder what happened, but on the other hand, I always felt like Ozu's color movies have been graded differently with every single of their restorations.

[Michael Kerpan]

Going back to an old HK VCD of End of Summer (probably based on a Shochiku release print or the like), this has always had roughly the same distinctive look from the other Ozu films. Perhaps all those earlier versions were wrong -- but they were so beautiful I prefer to doubt it.

[Black Hat]

I went to the other place to look up the specs for the BFI releases and I'm not the first person to notice they have a listing up for an Ozu Criterion Box Set, right?

[Saturnome]

It's been sighted by the WayBack Machine in february, so it's been there a while.

[sabbath]

As with The Adventures of Antoine Doinel, The Flowers of St. Francis, Los Olvidados, Shoot the Piano Player, Ginger and Fred, Homicide, My Blueberry Nights, The Grandmasters, etc?

[Saturnome]

Last summer I found a teapot that I'm 99% sure is the one from Equinox Flower

(bit of a weird photo I admit, it was for a friend and I can't bother to do another one)




It's swedish I think. It's a bit cracked inside so I don't think I can use it ? It's been sitting among my DVDs since then, I don't like to collect things I can't interact much with, but it was a bit extraordinary to find. And so it's the only film related thing I own that isn't a film or a book about film.

[pistolwink]

I'd love a catalogue of Ozu-inspired interior design/furniture!

[Stefan Andersson]

Post moved to more appropriate thread: Criterion 232 A A Story of Floating Weeds & Floating Weeds.

[FrauBlucher]

TCM is doing Ozu Tuesdays in May. Starting now with The Ozu Diaries

Sorry for not posting sooner

[sabbath]

Every Frame a Painting x TCM: Ozu in Color (Video Essay)

[FrauBlucher]

I just finished The Ozu Diaries. It spends a lot of time on his early years. Gives great insight into his time spent in and during the war years, which I knew very little about. It does spend time on The Tokyo Story as one would expect. And finishes up highlighting a few of his color films that lead to the end of his life. Overall this 2 hour and 17 minute doc is definitely well worth it if you're an Ozu fan. Interesting that TCM had a role to play in this production. And Peter Becker gets a thank you in the credits. No doubt this will be included in a box if that happens but I could also see it get a standalone

[denti alligator]

Since there seems to be no Ozu box coming from Criterion, what are the best available editions of the films out there? I found this list on reddit, which I'll try to update and modify:

4K restorations on Blu-Ray disc

Tokyo Twilight (Shochiku)

Early Spring (Shochiku)

Late Spring (Shochiku)

Early Summer (Shochiku)

Late Autumn (Shochiku)

Tokyo Story (BFI – 2020 edition)

Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (extra on this disc)

Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice (BFI)

Good Morning/I Was Born But (Criterion)

Au Autumn Afternoon (Criterion)

A Story of Floating Weeds/Floating Weeds (Criterion)

2k Blu-Ray

3 Films Box Set (BFI)

• Record of a Tenement Gentleman
  
  Dragnet Girl
  
  A Hen in the Wild

Equinox Flower (Shochiku)

The Only Son (BFI - extra on Late Spring)

There Was a Father (BFI - on I Was Born But/ There Was a Father set)

DVD

End of Summer (criterion – in the Late Ozu box set, only title not available on its own)

Tokyo chorus (criterion – in the Silent Ozu Family Comedies box)

Passing fancy (criterion – in the Silent Ozu Family Comedies box)

Walk Cheerfully (criterion – in the Silent Ozu Crime Dramas box)

That Night’s Wife (criterion - in the Silent Ozu Crime Dramas box)

Woman of Tokyo (BFI)

A Mother Should Be Loved (BFI - extra on Late Autumn DVD)

Student Comedies Box Set (BFI)

• Days of Youth
  
  I Flunked, But…
  
  The Lady and the Beard
  
  Where Now are the Dreams of Youth?
  
  I Graduated, but

[Zot!]

Page 22 has the last round-up from some years back, but I'd be very keen on a current survey. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if much has changed since then.

[senseabove]

There was also some more recent discussion (from about a year ago) in this thread on the BFI box set.

[Criterion Nitrile]

Every Frame a Painting x TCM: Ozu in Color (Video Essay)

Very interesting piece. Having first seen the brighter, "Technicolor" look of Ozu's color work in something of a binge, I'm not sure I'll ever be comfortable with that milder, less intense look. But something to consider.

[FrauBlucher]

Since there seems to be no Ozu box coming from Criterion,

I wouldn’t be dismissive of a box set. Janus has 33 of his films. So licensing doesn’t seem to be a problem. This would be an easier get than say the Fellini box was with all the licensing issues. Just a matter of restorations which seems like it has been ongoing

[denti alligator]

Sure, but they would have to release them all Blu-ray or else upscale, which they won't do. Plus, many are not even HD-ready. And they also said recently they have no such plans.

I would love to be wrong.