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Analysis of “There Was A Father”, 00:42:00 – 00:47:59

Shohei Imamura, a very prominent Japanese film director (Pigs and Battleships, The Ballad of Narayama, The Eel), was once Ozu’s assistant. He immensely hated Ozu’s style of film direction and asked to be relieved from the position. To him, Ozu had always picked the worst take out of tens of retakes. Ozu’s endless retake was infamous in the studio, as he kept saying no until actors and actresses were so exhausted that their uniqueness were stripped off. Imamura found nothing to be learned from Ozu’s direction. It is true that many of the acting in Ozu’s films look unnatural and …

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JAPANESE FILMS

Analysis of “There Was A Father”, 00:36:00 – 00:41:59

A visit to Hirata’s home is another example of two-room staging coupled with a small room in the back. This scene echoes the earlier scene at Horikawa’s home when they discussed about Horikawa’s decision to resign his position. While the earlier scene opened with a troubled expression on Hirata’s face, here we have the more jovial smile on his face. Hirata is also a widower, but lives with his daughter (Nami) and young son (Seiichi). The contrast with Horikawa’s father-son relationship is revealing. They are living together, they have a home of their own, and they have their own privacy. …

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JAPANESE FILMS

Analysis of “There Was A Father”, 00:30:00 – 00:35:59

The space of two neighboring rooms with fusuma in between is the most effectively utilized in this section. Here, the son listened to his father’s decision without any utterance of protest, but his despair and disappointment is apparent visually. The next room has been a void up until this point, then the son moves to the room and sits on tatami quietly, his back toward his father. The distance here is only a few meters in reality, but we feel it more distant than it actually is. This “parent-child” conflict is always a recurring theme of Ozu films. But the …

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