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Yasujirō Ozu

Film studies Yasujirō Ozu

That Night’s Wife – その夜の妻 (1930) – Yasujiro Ozu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifFCoovW_bw

Yasujirō Ozu

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yasujirō Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu cropped.jpg
Born 12 December 1903
Tokyo, Japan
Died 12 December 1963 (aged 60)
Tokyo, Japan
Occupation Film director
Years active 1929–1963

Yasujirō Ozu (小津 安二郎 Ozu Yasujirō?, 12 December 1903 – 12 December 1963) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films. Ozu made fifty-three films: twenty-six in his first five years as a director, and all but three for the Shochiku studio. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in the 1930s.

Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the themes in his work. His outstanding works include Late Spring(1949), Early Summer (1951), Tokyo Story (1953), and Floating Weeds (1959). He made great use of ellipsis, where many events are not depicted visually, and he also used a style of cinematography in which the camera rarely moves and is usually positioned below the eye level of the actors.

His reputation has continued to grow since his death, and he is widely regarded as one of the world’s most influential directors.

Film studies Hou Hsiao-Hsien Yasujirō Ozu

Hou Hsiao-hsien on Ozu

An interview with Hou Hsiao-hsien on Yasujirō Ozu

hou-hsiao-hsien

As seen in this brief interview, Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien regards Japanese master Yasujirō Ozu as a kind of cinematic mathematician whose depictions of his characters’ lives was born from a detached analysis and deep understanding of Japanese people. He also praises Ozu’s determination in exploring similar themes through various perspectives and contexts as well as his expression of many facets of the human condition, with the latter quality being one that Hou unfavorably compares himself to—although most of those familiar with Hou’s work would not deny his achievements in this regard (ones that considerably lighten the strength of such a humble pronouncement).