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Brooklyn 30 LafayetteAvenue BAM RoseCinemas Academy BrooklynNY 11217-1486 Pressand Promotions of Telephone:718.636.4100 Molly B. Gross Fax:718.636.4179 718.636.4129 x3 [email protected] NewsRelease BAMcinematek Presents Tokyo Stories: Yasujiro Ozu, July 6-August 24

Seventeen retrospective of director Yasujiro Ozu, including , widely considered one of the great of the , as well as rarely screened pre-War works.

Brooklyn, May 24, 2004-From July 6-August 24 BAMcinematek, the repertory film program at BAM Rose Cinemas (30 Lafayette Avenue), presents Tokyo Stories: Yasujiro Ozu. Ozu's films are justly celebrated for their humane and precisely drawn stories of family life, as well as their subtle and innovative technical compositions. His films-rooted so specifically in Japanese landscape and custom-have had an extraordinary influence on generations of filmmakers worldwide. "If our century still had any shrines," says director Wim Wenders, "if there were any relics of the cinema, then for me it would have to be the corpus of the Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu."

Tokyo Stories:Yasujiro Ozu presents seventeen of the director's thirty-six extant works. The series begins on July 6 with The Only Son (1936), Ozu's first sound film, which the Village Voice calls "a small masterpiece of haunting grace and economy." It continues on July 9 with , the first of Ozu's seasonal films, and one of the director's personal favorites. Called "wry, affectionate, and ironic" by Ozu biographer Donald Richie, What Did the Lady Forget? (1937) is one of Ozu's early satires of the Japanese middle class, and shows July 13. The seasonal films continue July 16 with , of which Ozu says, "I was interested in getting much deeper than just the story itself: I wanted to depict the cycles oflife, the transience oflife." Also showing are (1958) which screens on August 13, and which the New York Times calls "gentle and amused in the way that it acknowledges time's passage, the changing of values, and the adjustments that have to be made between generations," and Late Autumn (1960), showing August 19, which the New Republic calls "exquisite and not to be missed." More highlights of the series include Ozu's other personal favorites, (1942), which shows on July 27, and Tokyo Story (1953), which screens August 8. The

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New Yorker calls Tokyo Story "one of the manifest miracles of cinema," and it is regularly included on critics' best-oflists, including polls by the Village Voice and Sight and Sound. The series concludes on August 24 with (1962), the great director's final film.

The complete schedule for Tokyo Stories: Yasujiro Ozu follows.

BAM Rose Cinemas "offers one of the most civilized movie-going experiences in the city," according to The New York Times. General admission tickets to BAM Rose Cinemas are $10. Tickets are $7 for students 25 and under (with valid I.D. Monday-Thursday, except holidays), seniors, and children under twelve, and $6 for BAM Cinema Club members. Tickets are available at the BAM Rose Cinemas box office, by phone at 718.777.FILM (order by "name of movie" option), or online at www.bam.org. A dinner and movie package on Friday and Saturday nights at BAMcafe is available for only $31 (at the box office only). For more information, call the BAMcinematekhotline at 718.636.4100 or visit www.bam.org.

About Yasujiro Ozu

The British Film Institute calls Yasujiro Ozu, "one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century in any medium and in any country." Ozu was born in 1903, the son of a distant father who worked as a fertilizer salesman in Tokyo, while he and his brothers attended school in the Japanese countryside. Ozu was a failure as a student, more interested in drinking, fighting, and skipping exams to watch movies than in attending classes.

By his early twenties, he had managed to acquire and quickly lose a teaching post in the country. Knowing of his nephew's love of cinema, his uncle introduced him to the manager of Studios, Teihiro Tsutsumi. Considered a disreputable industry at the time, Ozu thrived as an assistant cameraman in spite of his father's protests at his new career. But even here, Ozu's mischievous nature was visible, and he rebelled at the suggestion that he could advance beyond his duties carrying and lifting cameras and equipment. "As an assistant I could drink all I wanted and spend my time talking," said Ozu. "As a director, I'd have to stay up all night working on continuity. Still, my friends told me to go ahead and give it a try."

Proving his friends correct, Ozu moved from assistant cameraman, to assistant director, to director of his first feature in a year. One of the many works ofOzu's now lost, The Sword of Penitence (1927) was the director's first film and his only period piece. "I formulated my own directing style in my own head, proceeding without any unnecessary imitation of others," said Ozu. "For me there was no such thing as a teacher. I have relied entirely on my own strength." Initially, this meant a gradual development toward spirited satires and class-based dramas in the , films which were at times akin to the contemporaneous work of French director in their balancing of slapstick and darkness-and in their beautiful portrayals of childhood.

Ozu found humor and dignity in the lives of Depression-era Japanese, and his shomin-geki ("drama about people like you and me") are in many ways precursors to the Italian of the post-War period. Ozu directed only two films during the Second World War, Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941) and There Was a Father (1942). After six months in a British POW camp following the Japanese surrender, Ozu returned to Tokyo and began making films in a radically changed . Ozu's films following the war are notable for several things. He began to pare down the composition of shots and editing so that they appear as finely measured orchestrations of restraint, with the camera never higher than the level of a person seated on a tatami mat, and with a minimum of camera movement and cross-cutting. He also began to focus even more extensively on the structure of the Japanese family. And the importance of time is emphasized by his long series of seasonal films, which are notable for their attentiveness to environment and subtly played character. Ozu's films from this time rework themes (and often are remakes of his earlier pictures). The director proceeded at his own pace, not making a color film until 1958 (Equinox Flower), just as he had not made a talking film until nine years after the advent of sound. Yasujiro Ozu died on his birthday in 1963. His grave is marked with the Chinese character for mu, which translates as "nothingness."

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TokyoStories: Yasuiiro Ozu schedule All the films are in Japanese with English , and all are directed by Yasujiro Ozu.

Tuesday, July 6 at 4:30, 6:45, 9pm The Only Son (Hitori Musuko) (1936), 83 min With Chishu Ryu and Choko Iida A country woman saves for years to send her son to college in Tokyo, but her visit to him in the city brings a great disappointment. Ozu made the transition from silent to sound very late, as this 1936 effort was his first all­ sound film. Surprising then, is his mastery of the fonn, contrasting the simple sounds of the Japanese countryside with the overbearing industrial sounds of Tokyo life, to create one of his most emotional films.

Friday, July 9 at 2, 4:30, 6:45, 9pm Late Spring (Banshun) (1949), 108 min With Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara One of Ozu's masterpieces (and one of his own personal favorites), the film centers on a widowed man who is concerned that his daughter is throwing her life away by caring for him. Full of bittersweet performances, the film is a searing character study, with wonderful performances from the two leads. Late Spring also marks Chishu Ryu's first major role for Ozu; he would go on to star in most of Ozu's late-period masterworks.

Tuesday, July 13 at 4:30, 6:45, 9pm What Did the Lady Forget? (Shukujo wa Nani o Wasuretaka) (1937), 71 min With Sumiko Kurishima and Tatsuo Saito Borrowing from the social satires ofLubitsch and Renoir, this comedy of manners is an affectionate critique of suburban bourgeois Japanese mores. A well-to-do professor and his wife look after their visiting niece, a "modem girl" from Osaka, who throws their lives into turmoil, and exposes their hypocrisy.

Friday, July 16 at 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30pm Early Summer (Bakushu) (1951), 125 min With Setsuko Kara and Chishu Ryu Setsuko Hara is an unmarried modem girl, but her family is determined to find her a husband. Just when they have found a suitable candidate, she startles them by choosing someone else, and the disintegration of the family begins. Ozu continued his exploration of what he termed ''unfilled space" in the film with Early Spring, a movie that takes his deceptively simple style to new areas, lingering on moments other would ignore.

Tuesday, July 20 at 4:30, 6:45, 9pm Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (Toda-keno Kyodai) (1941), 102 min With Hideo Fujino and Ozu's first film after a four-year inscription in the army, it has been seen both as a propaganda to upholding the patriarchy as well as a critique of filial duty and the upper class. When the father of a large clan unexpectedly dies, his children are reluctant to take care of the mother and one daughter, resulting in heart-breaking scenes of the mother constantly toting her pet birds from home to home.

Friday, July 23 at 2, 4:30, 6:45, 9pm The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (Ochazuke no Aji) (1952), 115 min With Chishu Ryu and Shin Saburi Attempting to make a film about a man through the eyes of a woman, Ozu created this tragicomic tale of a simple-minded businessman and his upper-class, scornful wife. Their relationship seems almost comical in her disdain for him, but when their niece visits, their lack of intimacy and involvement is laid bare, and forces the pair to reevaluate their life together.

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Tuesday, July 27 at 4:30, 6:45, 9pm There Was a Father (Chichi Ariki) (1942), 87 min With Chishu Ryu and Shuji Sano A widowed father is separated from his son, and the film chronicles their twenty-year relationship through a series of conversations between the two. With a definite wartime emphasis on self-sacrifice, There Was a Father instructs the child ( and the audience) on the virtue of keeping feelings hidden, then brings that idea crashing down in one of Ozu's most emotional endings.

Friday, July 30 at 3, 6, 9pm Early Spring (Soshun) (1956), 144 min With Ryo Ikebe, . Having made several light-hearted "salaryman" films in his career, Ozu returned to this to make Early Spring, a devastating account of the tedium of one businessman's routine, his dull marriage, and his predictable life. Sequences showing the commuters arriving for work and the rhythms of office life illuminate this tale of quiet despair.

Tuesday, August 3 at 4:30, 6:45, 9pm The Record of a Tenement Gentleman (Nagaya Shinshi Roku) (1947), 72 min With Choko Iida and Chishu Ryu Set in the ruins of Tokyo destroyed by bombing, Record of a Tenement Gentleman shows the relationship between a young orphan, and an elderly widow who dislikes children, but is forced to care for the boy. Ozu films the scenes of poverty and cruelty (in the woman's attempts to rid herself of the child) with a light touch, finding the humor and humanity even in the worst situations.

Friday, August 6 at 3, 6, 9pm Tokyo Twilight (Tokyo Boshoku) (1957), 141 min With Setsuko Hara and Chishu Ryu Striking back at critics who felt his films to be out of touch with everyday life in Japan, Ozu delivered Tokyo Twilight, a venture into , about a woman who leaves her abusive husband to move in with her father in the slums of Tokyo. But once she gets there, a dark family secret is revealed, as the camerawork (Ozu's last film in ) reveals the character's claustrophobic world.

Sunday, August 8 at 3, 6, 9pm Tokyo Story (Tokyo Monogatari) (1953), 134 min With Chishu Ryu and Setsuka Hara Arguably Ozu's masterpiece-and a favorite of critics and filmmakers, including Jim Jannusch and Aki Kaurismaki-Tokyo Story is the rare film that expanded the potential of cinema: in this case, its ability to convey the deepest emotions with the smallest of gestures. An elderly couple visits their children in Tokyo, but their impatient children have no time for them. Tokyo Story is a fascinating meditation on family and mortality, and required viewing for any cineaste.

Wednesday, August 10 at 4:30, 6:45, 9pm A Hen in the Wind (Kaze no Nakano Mendori) (1948), 84 min With and Shuji Sano A pivotal film in the development of Ozu' s late-period style of stark photography and editing, A Hen in the Wind is one of Ozu's more overtly political films, dealing with life in postwar Japan. A young wife is forced to prostitute herself while awaiting her husband's return, which leads to problems when he finally arrives.

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Tuesday, August 13 at 2, 4:30, 6:45, 9pm Good Morning (Ohayo) (1959), 93 min For the uninformed who think Ozu's films are unrelentingly depressing: Good Morning, a film filled with fart jokes and bizarre social humor. In this satire on 1950s consumerism two young boys have an obsession with a telev!sion set, and they refuse to pay lip service to Japanese manners (their solution: a "silence strike"). Ozu offers proof that comedy can be just as rewarding as tragedy.

Friday, August 15 at 2, 4:30, 6:45, 9pm Equinox Flower (Higan-Bana) (1958), 118 min With Kaji Shigaraki and Chishu Ryu With Shin Saburi and Kinuyo Tanaka A conservative patriarch wants his daughter to have a normal arranged marriage, but she rebels. The film never takes sides in the argument, making each character sympathetic and deepening the drama. Ozu's first color film shows him in command of the form- using bursts of carefully selected primary colors (usually red) to delineate the character's emotions.

Sunday, August 17 at 6:45, 9pm (Ukigusa) (1959) 119 min, print provided by the Japan Foundation With Ganjiro Nakamura and Machiko Kyo Working with the renowned cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa (who also shot Kurosawa's Rashomon and YoJimbo), Ozu crafted one of his most atmospheric works. Floating Weeds focuses on a troupe of actors who drift from town to town, in this case stopping at a small fishing village where a startling claim is made against the leader.

Thursday, August 19 at 6, 9pm Late Autumn (Akibiyori) (1960), 129 min With Setsuko Kara and Chishu Ryu The remarkable Setsuka Hara plays an aging widow who is content with not being married, but her family and friends are determined to find a match for her. Using the metaphor of autumn to explore the subtleties of growing old, Ozu crafts a deceptive meditation on the nature of family and friends. Late Autumn is a quietly heart­ breaking film about people blindly trying to do what they think is right.

Tuesday, August 24 at 4:30, 6:45, 9pm An Autumn Afternoon (Samma no Aji) (1962), 113 min With Chishu Ryu and Shima Iwashita Ozu's final film is marked by a melancholy and weariness with the intrusion of consumer culture on traditional Japanese society. As a father decides to marry off his daughter, he slowly grows to realize his mistake. A gently humorous satire, the film contrasts the promise of youth with the reality of everyday life.

Credits

Steiner Studios is the presenting sponsor for BAMcinematek. Leadership support is provided by The Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Charitable Trust. BAM Rose Cinemas is named in recognition of a major gift in honor of Jonathan F.P. and Diana Calthorpe Rose. BAM Rose Cinemas would also like to acknowledge the generous support of The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, Richard B. Fisher and Jeanne Donovan Fisher, James Ottaway, Jr., Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Delegation of the New York City Council, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, Bloomberg, and Grand Mamier Foundation. Additional support is provided by The Liman Foundation, The Grodzins Fund, and Coca Cola Enterprises of New York.

BAMcinematekwould like to offer special thanks to Sarah Finklea/Janus Films and Satoko Yanagi/The Japan Foundation NY.

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General Information

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, BAMcafe, and Shakespeare & Co. BAMshop are located in the main building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn's only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafe, operated by Great Performances, also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music on Friday and Saturday nights. A $21 three-course dinner at BAMcafe is available Thu-Sat for BAM Rose Cinemas ticket holders (day of screening only). BAMcafe is open Thursday-Saturday from 5pm-closing. Additionally, BAMcafe is open two hours prior to all Howard Gilman Opera House and Harvey Theater performances.

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue; D, M, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Flatbush A venue Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM

For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit www.bam.org.

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