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Yasujiro Ozu: Japanese Film Master

by John McGee

Japanese film director Yasujiro Ozu in action (Photos © Shochiku)

In an action-packed Matrix world, many find it hard to sit through the glacially paced films of Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963). The simple cut is his primary camera trick and the quiet conflicts of families are his action scenes. Yet since the 1970s, when Ozu's films became better known outside Japan, his carefully constructed, pared-down style has won him fans among movie aficionados, contemporary directors like Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch, and ordinary folks with a little patience. 

2003 was the centennial of Ozu's birth, and throughout the year film festivals around the world celebrated with special programs. From November 2003-Jan 2004, the National Museum of Modern Art, Film Center in Kyobashi did the same (the events straddled Ozu's December 12 birthday), screening new prints of 36 of his films plus four films based on his stories, and holding an exhibition of photos from his early years at the Shochiku Kamata Studios. 

Ozu's films are often divided into pre- and postwar. His silent films— Hollywood-influenced comedies, melodramas and noir—were stylistically quite different from his later works. But they often shared similar themes, e.g. tradition vs. modernity.

Ozu set many of his famous films in his hometown, Tokyo. The earliest is his last silent film, An Inn in Tokyo (1935)—"probably the masterpiece of Ozu's silent period," according to one historian—about a laid-off factory worker and his two sons. Other films to look for are Tokyo Story (1953), the film often regarded as the most representative of Ozu's tatami-views of Japanese familial strains; Early Summer (1951), about a young woman who chooses her own husband against her family's wishes; and Floating Weeds (1959), which culture critic Donald Richie called "the most physically beautiful of all of Ozu's pictures." 

Tokyo Story (Tokyo Monogatari), 1953, directed by Yasujiro Ozu

The concurrent exhibition "Days of Youth: Ozu and Shimizu at the Shochiku Kamata Studios" follows the early careers of both Ozu (from 1927-36) and contemporary director Hiroshi Shimizu (1925-35). During these formative years, the filmmakers learned their chops through experimentation and short production schedules. Out of his oeuvre of 54 films, Ozu shot 35 in Kamata, or roughly three-and-a-half films per year. Small production stills and theater-issued programs from the films briefly outline the tales of uniformed school kids, kimono-clad lovers and vaudevillian clowns. 

The main reason to visit the seventh floor, however, is not to see this strictly-for-the-enthusiast exhibition but for "Japanese Film Heritage: From the Non-Film Collection of the National Film Center" in the adjoining galleries. Drawn from the museum's vast collections, this ongoing show includes vintage projectors from the early 20th century, movie posters, anime cels, and even the Golden Lion Akira Kurosawa received for Rashomon at the 1951 Venice Film Festival. 

In addition, numerous video monitors screen snips from historic films restored by the Film Center, from silent samurai movies to documentaries to animation. One of the most compelling is right at the front entrance: footage the Lumiere Brothers shot around Japan from 1897-99. Watch as horse-drawn streetcars rattle through central Tokyo, farmers yank up rice, and a guy in a kimono and a top hat steps out of a rickshaw. 

This exhibition and film series was held Nov 2003-Jan 2004 at the National Museum of Modern Art, Film Center in Kyobashi, Tokyo, Japan.

©2006 John McGee

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