In Search of Ozu (US/Japan, 2018)

 

In this documentary, filmmaker Daniel Raim delves into Yasujiro Ozu's remarkable late work, in which the master made the leap from black and white to color. In his stirring tribute to the great filmmaker, Raim examines Ozu's life and work through archival treasures such as his diary and the red teakettle from the family drama "Equinox Flower" (1958); sits down with Ozu's nephew and the producer of the director's gently elegiac final film, "An Autumn Afternoon" (1962); and interweaves many scenes and images from the vibrant and humane films with which the director capped his career.

If you're a fan of Ozu, you really should set aside some short quality time (it's only 46min long) to watch this documentary, and learn a lot more about one of the most important directors in history. We're treated to a treasure trove of still existing objects which have appeared in Ozu's films so many years ago, and his family gives some insight into what motivated Ozu to make the kind of family focused films he was best known for. The fact that he stayed single and never married was news to me, and people speculates wether it's because he saw too many failed marriages around him to tie the know himself. I also love the fact that he personally designed a lot of the sets and everything that went into the scenes themselves, like bar signs and posters, etc. He also seemed to be a big joker and drank a lot of sake.

A short and sweet, really informative look at the man behind many films that will be remembered forever.

Genre: Documentary

Late Spring (Japan, 1949)

Noriko is 27 years old and is still living with her father Somiya, a widower. Noriko just recovered from an illness she developed in the war, and now the important question pops up: when will Noriko start thinking about marriage? Everybody who is important in her life tries to talk her into it: her father, her aunt, a girlfriend. But Noriko doesn't want to get married, she seems extremely happy with her life. She wants to stay with her father to take care of him. After all, she knows best of his manners and peculiarities.

Late Spring has been called "one of the most perfect, most complete, and most successful studies of character ever achieved in Japanese cinema", and has widely been referred to as director Yasujiro Ozu's best work. With a fantastic screenplay, it's a well-told story about ordinary lives in Japan's immediate post-war era.

Another essential classic.

Genre: Drama

Floating Weeds (Japan, 1959)

A troupe of travelling players arrive at a small seaport in the south of Japan. Komajuro Arashi, the aging master of the troupe, goes to visit his old flame Oyoshi and their son Kiyoshi, even though Kiyoshi believes Komajuro is his uncle. The leading actress Sumiko is jealous and so, in order to humiliate the master, persuades the younger actress Kayo to seduce Kiyoshi.

Legendary director Yasujiro Ozu decided to make a remake of his own A Story of Floating Weeds (1934), and the fruit of that production was this fantastic film which is one of his most outstanding works. It's a well-told drama that slowly unfold itself, the kind of movie Ozu was a master of. With an exquisite color palette, Yasujiro Ozu portrays life in the most realistic and respectful way possible. There isn't much about the way Ozu shoots his films that hasn't been said, but one can at least join in on the vast amount of praise given to him. The restorations of his films absolutely makes the colors glow and give that Hitchcock technicolor (Eastmancolor here) look, and objects you didn't think could ever be important makes scenes much more rememberable. You're never as much aware of the sets as you are with Ozu, given the care he took when filming his actors.

A wonder of human drama and skill in moviemaking, Floating Weeds is the film you return to when it feels as if modern directors have forgotten how to make this kind of quality. 

Genre: Drama

Tokyo Story (Japan, 1953)

An elderly couple journey to Tokyo to visit their children and are confronted by indifference, ingratitude and selfishness. When the parents are packed off to a resort by their impatient children, the film deepens into an unbearably moving meditation on mortality.

Tokyo Story has countless times been listed as one of the greatest films ever made. Critics and movie magazines all over the world has placed it at the top for over 50 years. There's no denying that this is one of those classics you need to see at least once in your life. Director Yasujiro Ozu uses his own distinctive camera style where the camera height is low and never moves, his so called "tatami-mat"-shot. Whole scenes are being shot this way in one take and it always gives me a rush when it doesn't cut to another shot in a long time, and to me it creates a sort of intense bond between the viewer and the film. You're not watching these folks at their dinner table, you're sitting down with them. A family centered story dealing with a probably all too plausible scenario in many households. 

Genre: Drama