Tag: YASUJIRO OZU

Absence of Tokyo Between now and then, transformation is staggering. Yasujiro Ozu made 5 “Tokyo” films. “Tokyo Chorus”, “Woman of Tokyo”, “An Inn in Tokyo”, “Tokyo Story” and “Tokyo Twilight”. In addition to these films, his films make frequent reference to Tokyo. “I Was Born But …” is the story of a “salary man” in the Tokyo suburb, “The Only Son” is another story of disillusion in metropolis, and “Ohayo” tells the parallel stories of men, women and children of Tokyo, to name the few. However, his recurring reference to this ever-growing megacity provides the limited view of “Tokyo”. Most …

One of the pleasures of looking at the old films is to admire the scenery of the past. When you look at the Keaton shorts, you are looking at the Los Angeles in making. When you see Italian Neo-realist films, you see Rome, Milan and other Italian cities before MacDonald invasion. While watching “I Was Born But … (1932)” by Yasujiro Ozu, I was asking myself, “Which railway is this, these obnoxious ever-present trams ?”  The film was shot at Kamata Studio, so this must be either Mekama-Line or Ikegami-Line. One of the key locations in the film, the railroad …

Chishu Ryu said “Ozu-san didn’t make any heroic movie during the war”. This is true. He did not make any combat films, heroic military action films nor pseudo-historical drama to support totalitarian political agenda. But it does not mean he was making films in vacuum. “I was born, but … (1932)” may seem the last place for anyone to find any war propaganda, but, remember, it was filmed in 1932, the year of Shanghai Incident. During the scene in the classroom, you can see a rather large frame of Japanese calligraphy on the wall. It says “Bakudan Sanyu-shi”, or “Three …