JAPANESE FILMS

Ozu Goes to Nanking

I posted some photographs of directors and one young actress from prewar Japanese cinema magazines in the past weeks. Today, I post three daring photographs of Yasujiro Ozu, to commemorate his 110th anniversary. The first photograph is from 1932. This was taken during the shooting of I WAS BORN, BUT … (1932), the film I consider the best among his extant silent works. According to the caption, these two kids had fallen ill during the shooting of the film previous year, and the production had to be stopped. Now, apparently these rascals were feeling better (is that a cigarette?) and …

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Ozu’s color films to be restored

According to Tokyo Shinbun, NFC (National Film Center) in Tokyo announced the plan to restore Yosujiro Ozu’s four color films, such as AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON and LATE AUTUMN, using the state-of-art digital technology. These films are already showing some decay and fading. To restore the color of these films, it is necessary to collect the knowledge of the people who were involved in Ozu’s production directly. Archivists are alarmed of the loss of such knowledge, since these ex-staffs are becoming too old. This program is the part of 110th anniversary of Ozu, and these restored versions of the four films …

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JAPANESE FILMS

5 Lost Films by 5 Masters of Japanese Cinema

Here is the list of lost films by 5 Japanese masters: Shozo Makino, Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, Sadao Yamanaka and Akira Kurosawa. I guess you may pick other films, but I will state my case.     Goban Tadanobu, Genji no Ishizue (碁盤忠信　源氏礎, 1909) Directed by Shozo Makino Produced by Yokota Shokai Starring Matsugoro Ono-e Though this is not a first dramatic cinema in the Japanese history, this is definitely the most important work during the early period of Japanese cinema. It is the first film to star the Star of Japanese Cinema, Matsunosuke Ono-e, and kicked off the life …

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