The silver screen originated a kind of silver-coated projection
screen that was popular in the early years of the film industry.
Setsuko Hara (1920-2015), one of the female stars of the silver
screen, passed away in September at the age of 95. A Japanese film director and screenwriter Yasujiro Ozu
highly appreciated Hara's talent and often casted her in the leading role in his
films.
Searching for Yasujiro Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963) is often called the most "Japanese"
of Japanese film directors. He created films about typical middle-class
Japanese lives and family relationships. He made 54 films in his life.
I am a film lover and I saw several Ozu's films, but to be honest.
they didn't leave me much impression.
What is more, as far as Setsuko Hara, Akira Kurosawa's "The
Idiot" in which she played a wicked woman being completely different
character from that in Ozu's films was much more impressive for me.
However, things could be different this time, because I tried to
follow Ozu's footsteps here in his hometown Fukagawa, and search for reasons why
he was referred to as the most Japanese of Japanese film directors and also as
one of the world's greatest directors. Anyway, when I finish writing this blog,
I'll be definitely picking out Ozu's works in my DVD library.
Memorial tablet for his
birthplace (1-chome, Fukagawa)
Born and raised in Fukagawa
Yasujiro Ozu was born in the old Fukagawa district (present Koto
City) of Tokyo, in 1903, as the second son of Toranosuke, a manager at the top
fertilizer wholesaler Yuasa-ya. Yasujiro attended Meiji elementary
school. When he was at the age of
ten, Ozu family moved to his father's hometown Matsusaka in Mie
Prefecture. In August 1923 young
Yasujiro came back to Tokyo and joined the Kamata Studio of
Shochiku Film Company. Shortly
thereafter, in September 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake occurred and the
Fukagawa area suffered catastrophic damage. On that day he walked back to Fukagawa from the Kamata
Studio and the following morning he was reunited with his all family members survived
the disaster.
A guardian dog donated by
Fukagawa fertilizer wholesalers including Yuasa-ya
(Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine)
Pursuing a career in filmmaking
In 1927, Ozu became a director at Shochiku, making his first silent
film Zange no yaiba or "Sword of
Penitence." He was very interested in Hollywood movies and their
influences could be glimpsed in his early films
One of Ozu's first masterpieces and also the last greatest
Japanese silent films is the comedy & drama Umarete wa mita keredo or "I Was Born But …"
in 1932. It gained critical and
financial success and was voted the best Japanese film of the year in the "Kinema Jumpo"* poll. In this film Ozu adopted the technique,
which would become his style and trademark such as low angle, minimal or static
camera work and simple cuts, etc.
*Japan's oldest and premiere cinema magazine.
Posters of Ozu's films (Koto City
Furuishiba Culture Center: KCFCC)
Stories set in Koto City
Ozu made five films being set in Koto City:
- Dekigokoro "Passing
Fancy" (1933),
- Tokyo no yado "An
Inn in Tokyo" (1935)
- Hitori musuko "The
Only Son" (1936)
- Kaze no naka no mendori "A Hen
in the Wind" (1948)
- Tokyo monogatari "Tokyo
Story" (1953)
- Akibiyori "Late
Autumn" (1960)
Emerging as a world film director
Ozu made 54 films (37 of them extant). Sanma no aji or
"An Autumn Afternoon" (1962) was his last film. Ozu never married or had his own children,
living with his mother until her death in 1962. As though he was following his mother, he died of cervical
malignancy in 1963, almost on his 60th birthday. Shortly before his death, Ozu's films appeared in foreign
movie theaters and International film festivals.
In 2012, "Tokyo Story" topped in the British Film
Institute poll of Greatest Films of Directors and Critics published in
"Sight & Sound"*, receiving 48 votes out of the 358 directors
polled.
*British monthly film magazine published by the British Film
Institute (BFI), since 1932
Once in an interview he said, "As my principle of life, I follow the general fashion in ordinary matters and moral laws in serious matters, but in
matters of art I follow myself."
His favorite items in showcases (KCFCC)
His favorite items in a showcase (KCFCC)
Haiku poem handwritten by Ozu
with his autograph on his folding fan (KCFCC)
Reference:
Ozu Yasujiro to Fukagawa
"Yasujiro and Fukagawa" published by Koto City Furuishiba Culture
Center http://www.kcf.or.jp/furuishiba/ozu.html
Hideo Tsukiyama - Ozu
Collection "Setsuko Hara and Yasujiro Ozu"
December 26, 2015 — February
14, 2016
at Koto City Furuishiba Culture
Center
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