More Ozu From Criterion

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More Ozu From Criterion
Topic Started: Feb 8 2008, 01:40 PM (243 Views)
Laughing Gravy	Feb 8 2008, 01:40 PM Post #1
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,073 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Eclipse #10 will be Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies (including I Was Born, But..., Passing Fancy and Tokyo Chorus). $45, coming in April.



panzer the great & terrible	Feb 11 2008, 03:37 PM Post #2
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,356 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	I've preordered. Have seen two of these and they were among the most enjoyable silent movies ever, but then again, I have yet to see an Ozu movie that wasn't excellent. If you want to know what all the shootin's about, try Floating Weeds (the sound version).
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


Frank Hale	Jan 21 2009, 09:53 PM Post #3
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 828 Group: Members Member #59 Joined: October 6, 2005	Tokyo Chorus (1931): Not particularly involving domestic drama set in Depression-era Japan: job hunting, family tensions, the usual comedy vignettes, and no discernable point other than that life goes on. Ozu’s first mature film we are told. Well photographed and acted; lots of emulsion damage, but no splices. Sound apparently didn’t catch on in Japan until the mid-30’s. I did find the many similarities between early 30’s Japan and the US of historic interest. But I also couldn’t forget that all those smiling, mustachioed actors were probably in China a few years later bayoneting civilians.



Frank Hale	Feb 14 2009, 07:31 PM Post #4
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 828 Group: Members Member #59 Joined: October 6, 2005	I Was Born, But… (1932) In a world where trains run by every 45 seconds... Two boys discover that life isn’t fair and that their dad isn’t Superman. Somewhere I read that art must transcend reality. It’s going to take more than this to make an Ozu fan of me!



panzer the great & terrible	Feb 15 2009, 11:23 AM Post #5
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,356 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	Why don't you rent Floating Weeds or An Autumn Afternoon? Judging a guy by his silents when he made his reputation in the sound era doesn't seem entirely reasonable.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


Laughing Gravy	Feb 15 2009, 01:28 PM Post #6
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,073 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Imagine the poor soul whose introduction to Hitchcock is Mr. and Mrs. Smith or Topaz.



panzer the great & terrible	Feb 15 2009, 01:50 PM Post #7
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,356 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	Or the guy who has seen Hangman's House and Cameo Kirby and can't see what all the fuss is about with John Ford.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


Frank Hale	Feb 15 2009, 02:30 PM Post #8
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 828 Group: Members Member #59 Joined: October 6, 2005	A more apt comparison for Hitchcock might be his non-thriller silents The Ring and The Skin Game. And if Ozu-san had had a scene like Victor McLaglen’s ambiguous smile of regret at the end of Hangman’s House, he’d have my vote. In any case, don’t worry. Even my pea-sized brain had figured out that I might not be seeing him at his best, so I’ll spare you any comment on the last film in the set unless it’s a rave. There is one striking thing about these films, and that is that the Japanese families portrayed are just average folks trying to make a living during the Depression, same as in so many American films of the era. And yet, despite the similarities, ten years later both societies were engaged in total war.



panzer the great & terrible	Feb 15 2009, 03:57 PM Post #9
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,356 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	That's what strikes me about these silents: how normal the Japanese seem! But the Rape of Nanking is only a few years away. Kurosawa made a fine picture about the Japanese slide into fascism, No Regrets for Our Youth. It concerns a group of idealistic leftist college students faced with a society that increasingly marginalizes them. As I go deeper into his work, I increasingly feel that the mainstream critics were right all along and Kurosawa's the greatest Japanese director, a fearless social critic and all around great guy. His pessimism seems warranted by the facts in Japan.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


Frank Hale	May 16 2009, 06:37 PM Post #10
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 828 Group: Members Member #59 Joined: October 6, 2005	I see on the King Kong thread that Mr. P may have cooled down a bit on the Ozu silents. I said I wouldn’t comment on the last film in the set, “Passing Fancy” unless it proved to be a rave. Watched it last night and actually kind of enjoyed it. A 40-ish single father tries to cope with his young son, low wages, and his desire for a wife. Not a rave, exactly, but it’s a distinct step up from the prior two films. Well acted, with more emphasis on the different viewpoints of the characters.



panzer the great & terrible	May 17 2009, 06:01 AM Post #11
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,356 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	I haven't really cooled down on the Ozu silents: I just said they aren't the kind of film that you watch over and over; there are plenty of good movies that I wouldn't care to see again for one reason or another: Nothing Sacred is an example. If you've seen it once, you've seen it, but I would never call it a bad film. My point is, I will still watch every Ozu picture that becomes available. He gives us the Japanese people as they like to think they are.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


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