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Yasujirō Ozu

BornDecember 12, 1903(1903-12-12)
Tokyo, Japan
DiedDecember 12, 1963 (aged 60)
Tokyo, Japan
Years active1929 - 1963
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Yasujirō Ozu (小津 安二郎 Ozu Yasujirō?, December 12, 1903 – December 12, 1963) was an influential Japanese film director. Events 627 - Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II 's Persian Year 1903 ( MCMIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar or a Common year starting Events 627 - Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II 's Persian Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The are the dominant Ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent of these approximately 127 million are residents of Japan A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a Film. Although marriage and family were among the most persistent themes in his body of work, Ozu ironically remained single and childless all of his life.

Contents

Early life

Ozu was born in the Fukagawa district of Tokyo. is a city located in Sorachi, Hokkaidō, Japan. As of 2008 the city has an estimated Population of 24448 and the density of officially, is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. At the age of 10, he and his siblings were sent by his mother to live at his father's home town of Matsuzaka, Mie Prefecture, where he spent most of his youth. sometimes called Matsuzaka, is a city located in central Mie Prefecture, on the island of Honshū, Japan. WikipediaWikiProject Japanese prefectures for guidelines --> is a prefecture of Japan which is part of the Kinki and Chūbu regions He was educated at a boarding school, but spent much of his time in the local cinema instead of the classroom. He worked briefly as a teacher before returning to Tokyo in 1923 to join the Shochiku Film Company. is a Japanese Movie studio and production company for Kabuki.

Early career

Ozu was initially hired as an assistant cameraman. He became an assistant director within three years, and directed his first film, Zange no Yaiba ("The Sword of Penitence", now lost), in 1927. An assistant director (AD is a person who helps the director in the making of a Movie or Television show He went on to make a further 53 films: 26 in his first five years as a director, and all but 3 for Shochiku studios.

Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in the 1930s. His Umarete wa mita keredo ("I Was Born, But…", 1932), a comedy with serious overtones on adolescence, not only marks the beginning of this transition, but was also received by movie critics as the first notable work of social criticism in Japanese cinema, winning Ozu wide acclaim. Social criticism analyzes Social structures which are seen as flawed and aims at practical solutions by specific measures radical Reform or even Revolutionary

In 1935, Ozu made a short documentary with soundtrack: Kagami Shishi, in which Kokiguro VI performed Kabuki dance of the same title. is a form of traditional Japanese theatre. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate Make-up worn by some of its performers This was made as per a request by Ministry of Education. [1]

Like the rest of Japan's cinema industry, Ozu was slow to switch to the production of talkies: his first film with a dialogue soundtrack was Hitori Musuko ("The Only Son") in 1936, five years after Japan's first talking film, Heinosuke Gosho's "The Neighbor's Wife and Mine". A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image as opposed to a Silent film.

World War II

In July 1937, at a time when Shochiku was unhappy about Ozu's lack of box-office success (despite the praise and awards he received from critics), the 34-year-old Ozu was conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army, and he served for two years in China as an infantry corporal in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Imperial Japanese Army ( IJA) ( Kyūjitai: 大日本帝國陸軍 Shinjitai: ja 大日本帝国陸軍 Romaji: Dai-Nippon Teikoku China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National The Infantry is the oldest and most numerous of the Combat Arms in the Armed forces, and consists The Second Sino-Japanese War ( July 7, 1937 to September 9, 1945) was a major war fought between the Republic of China and the

The first film Ozu made on his return was the critically and commercially successful Toda-ke no Kyodai ("Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family", 1941). is a 1941 Japanese Film by Yasujiro Ozu. He followed this with an autobiographical theme: Chichi Ariki ("There Was a Father", 1942), describing the strong bonds of affection between a father and son despite years of separation. An autobiography, from the Greek αὐτός autos "self" βίος bios "life" and γράφειν graphein "to write"

In 1943, Ozu was again drafted into the army to make a propaganda film in Burma. Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people Burma, officially the Union of Myanmar ( pjìdàunzṵ mjàmmà nàinŋàndɔ̀ is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia. However, he was sent to Singapore instead, where he spent much of his time watching American films that the Japanese army had confiscated. Singapore United States cinema has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century According to Donald Richie, Ozu's favorite was Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. For the US Senate historian see Donald A Ritchie. Donald Richie (born 1924 Lima, Ohio) is an American-born author George Orson Welles (May 6 1915 – October 10 1985 was an Academy Award -winning director, writer actor and producer for film stage radio and television Citizen Kane ( 1941) is an American Dramatic film, and the first Feature film directed by Orson Welles, who also co-authored

Postwar career

Ozu's films were most favorably received from the late 1940s, with works such as Banshun ("Late Spring", 1949), Tokyo Monogatari ("Tokyo Story", 1953) – considered to be his masterpiece – Ochazuke no Aji ("The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice", 1952), Soshun ("Early Spring", 1956), Higanbana ("Equinox Flower", 1958, his first film in colour), Ukikusa ("Floating Weeds", 1959) and Akibiyori ("Late Autumn", 1960). is a 1949 Japanese film by Yasujirō Ozu. Many consider this extremely chaste film between a father and his marriageable daughter his finest achievement is a 1953 Japanese film directed by Yasujiro Ozu. It tells the story of a mother and father who travel to the bustling metropolis of Tokyo to visit their grown children is a 1952 Japanese film directed by Yasujiro Ozu about a wealthy middle-aged couple (played by Shin Saburi and Michiyo Kogure) who have marital difficulties is a 1956 film by Yasujiro Ozu about a married office worker who has a fling with a typist a fellow commuter is a 1959 film directed by Yasujiro Ozu and shot in colour by Kazuo Miyagawa, one of Japan's most highly regarded cinematographers is a 1960 Drama film directed by Yasujiro Ozu, and his final film completed before his death

Ozu often worked with screenwriter Kogo Noda; other regular collaborators included cameraman Yuharu Atsuta and the actors Chishu Ryu, Setsuko Hara and Haruko Sugimura. was a Japanese Screenwriter who collaborated with Yasujirō Ozu on many of the director's films including his first ( The Sword of Penitence Chishu Ryu (笠智衆 Ryū Chishū; May 12, 1904 in Kumamoto, Japan – March 16, 1993 in Yokohama Setsuko Hara ( Japanese: 原節子 born Masae Aida on June 17[[ 920]] in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture is a famous Japanese actress was a Japanese stage and Film actress, best known for her appearances in the movies of Yasujiro Ozu and Mikio Naruse from the late 1940s to the

As a director, Ozu was eccentric and a notorious perfectionist. His films were typically infused with the Japanese concept of Mono no aware, an awareness of the impermanence of things. also translated as "an empathy toward things" or "a sensitivity of ephemera" is a Japanese term used to describe the Awareness of mujo or the He was seen as one of the 'most Japanese' film-makers, and as such his work was only rarely shown overseas before the 1960s.

Ozu's last film was Sanma no aji ("An Autumn Afternoon") in 1962. (1962 was the final film directed by Yasujiro Ozu, who died the following year He died the following year of cancer on his 60th birthday. Cancer (medical term Malignant Neoplasm) is a class of Diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled On his grave is at the temple of Engaku-ji , Kamakura is written the character mu -- "nothingness. Not to be confused with Enryaku-ji in Kyoto. Engaku-ji is one of the most important Zen Buddhist Temple complexes in is a city located in Kanagawa, Japan, about 50 km south-south-west of Tokyo. " [1]

Ozu was also well-known for his drinking. In fact, Ozu and his co-screenwriter Kogo Noda used to measure the progress of their scripts by how many bottles of sake they had drunk. (Occasionally, visitors to his grave pay their respects by leaving cans and bottles of alcoholic drink. )

Legacy

Ozu is possibly as well-known (if not more) for the technical style and innovation of his films as for the narrative content. The style of his films is most distinctive in his later films, and he had not fully developed it until his post-war talkies. A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image as opposed to a Silent film. He did not conform to most Hollywood conventions, most notably the 180 degree rule. The 180° rule is a basic Film editing guideline that states that two characters (or other elements in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to Also, rather than use the typical over-the-shoulder shots in his dialogue scenes, the camera gazes on the actors directly, which has the effect of placing the viewer in the middle of the scene. Ozu also did not use typical transitions between scenes. In between scenes he would show shots of certain static objects as transitions, or use direct cuts, rather than fades or dissolves. He moved the camera less and less as his career progressed, and ceased using tracking shots altogether in his color films. He also invented the "tatami shot," in which the camera is placed at a low height, precisely where it would be if one were kneeling on a tatami mat. (originally meaning "folded and piled" Mats are a traditional type of Japanese flooring

In narrative structure, Ozu was also an innovator in his use of ellipses, in which many major events are left out, leaving only the space between them. For example, in "An Autumn Afternoon" a wedding is mentioned in one scene, and then in the next, a reference is made to the wedding that already occurred. (1962 was the final film directed by Yasujiro Ozu, who died the following year The wedding, however, never occurs on screen. This is typical of Ozu's films.

The films "Late Spring", "Tokyo Story", "Good Morning" and "Early Summer" all feature young brothers named Minoru and Isamu. is a 1949 Japanese film by Yasujirō Ozu. Many consider this extremely chaste film between a father and his marriageable daughter his finest achievement is a 1953 Japanese film directed by Yasujiro Ozu. It tells the story of a mother and father who travel to the bustling metropolis of Tokyo to visit their grown children is a 1959 Comedy Film by director Yasujiro Ozu. It is a loose Remake of his own 1932 Silent film I Was is a 1951 film by Yasujiro Ozu. Like most Ozu films Early Summer deals with many issues ranging from communication problems between generations and the rising role

Partial filmography

The following 33 films survive:

Tributes

References

  1. ^ Google Book Result from Donald Richie's book

Further reading

External links

is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, Literature, Manga, Non-fiction, DVDs and other media in Japan. Paul Joseph Schrader (born July 22, 1946 in Grand Rapids Michigan) is an American Screenwriter and Film director The Guardian (until 1959 The Manchester Guardian) is a British Newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. The, commonly referred to as JMDB, is an Online Database of information about Japanese movies, Actors and production crew personnel
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