ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:
'The subject matter of the Ozu film is what faces all of us born of man and woman and going on to produce offspring of our own: the family. Japanese terms such as Shomin-geki, the drama of humour and pathos in lower-middle-class life, or home drama, a loan word now pejoratively equivalent to soap opera, may be applied to Ozu’s works and create an illusion of peculiar Japaneseness, but in fact behind the words are the problems we all face in a life cycle. They are the struggles of self-definition, of individual freedom, of disappointed expectations, of the impossibility of communication, of separation and loss brought about by the inevitable passages of marriage and death...' - Donald Richie, ‘Ozu’
Admired by many of the world’s leading directors, including Martin Scorsese and Wim Wenders, for his humanist tone and trademark cinematic style, Ozu’s films are frequently to be found in filmmakers’ and critics’ Top 10 Best Films lists. In a career which spanned 35 years - from his 1927 feature debut 'The Sword of Penitence' to 'An Autumn Afternoon' in 1962 - Ozu made a total of 53 films, 2 of which, his late colour masterpieces, 'Floating Weeds' (1959) and THE END OF SUMMER (1961) are featured here in brand new prints, as a tribute to mark the legendary Japanese filmmaker’s 100th anniversary. In the early days Ozu’s work was little known outside Japan. However, with the success of recent cinema retrospectives and increased availability on video and DVD, his films have become widely appreciated around the world. |
Film Facts:
