February 20, 2018 (XXXVI:4) Yasujirô Ozu TOKYO STORY (1953), 136 min. Directed by Yasujirô Ozu Writing Credits Kôgo Noda and Yasujirô Ozu (scenario) Produced by Takeshi Yamamoto Music Takanobu Saitô Cinematography Yûharu Atsuta Film Editing Yoshiyasu Hamamura Production Design Tatsuo Hamada Art Direction Tatsuo Hamada Costume Design Taizô Saitô Cast Chishû Ryû…Shukichi Hirayama Chieko Higashiyama…Tomi Hirayama Setsuko Hara…Noriko Hirayama Haruko Sugimura…Shige Kaneko Sô Yamamura…Koichi Hirayama than he had previously. His most famous film, Tokyo Story Kuniko Miyake…Fumiko Hirayama - his wife (1953), is generally considered by critics and film buffs alike to Kyôko Kagawa…Kyôko Hirayama be his “masterpiece” and is regarded by many as not only one of Eijirô Tôno…Sanpei Numata Ozu’s best films but one of the best films ever made. He also Nobuo Nakamura…Kurazo Kaneko turned out such classics of Japanese film as Flavor of Green Tea Shirô Ôsaka…Keizo Hirayama Over Rice (1952), Floating Weeds (1959) and An Autumn Hisao Toake…Osamu Hattori Afternoon (1962). Ozu often employs the recurring theme of Teruko Nagaoka…Yone Hattori changes in post-war Japanese family and society, especially Mutsuko Sakura…Oden-ya no onna concentrating on relationships between the generations. He is Toyo Takahashi…Rinka no saikun also known through his cinematic trademarks such as rigorous use of static camera positioned only a few feet from floor, use of Yasujiro Ozu (December 12, 1903, Tokyo—d. December 12, the color red, and characters looking directly into the camera. 1963, Tokyo) was a movie buff from childhood, often playing The camera was always placed low, close to the floor. He never hooky from school in order to see Hollywood movies in his local used cranes, a moving camera, bird's eye shots. Once or twice he theatre. In 1923 he landed a job as a camera assistant at Shochiku tried them early in his career, but he abandoned them. When he Studios in Tokyo. Three years later, he was made an assistant edited, he never used overlaps, wipes, fade-ins. He was director and directed his first film the next year, Blade of determined to create a sense of ordinary, everyday life without Penitence (1927). Ozu made thirty-five silent films, and a trilogy tricks or mannerisms. To Ozu the camera was never more than an of youth comedies with serious overtones he turned out in the uninvolved observer. It is never part of the action. It never late 1920s and early 1930s placed him in the front ranks of comments on the action. It is through the repetition of short cuts Japanese directors. He made his first sound film in 1936, The moving back and forth from one character to another that Ozu Only Son (1936), but was drafted into the Japanese Army the created a sense of real life. Some of his other 54 directorial next year, being posted to China for two years and then to efforts are: The End of Summer (1961), Late Autumn (1960), Singapore when World War II started. At war's end, he went Good Tokyo Twilight (1957), Early Spring (1956), Early Summer back to Shochiku, and his experiences during the war resulted in (1951,The Munekata Sisters (1950), Late Spring (1949), A Hen his making more serious, thoughtful films at a much slower pace in the Wind (1948), Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947), Ozu—TOKYO STORY—2 There Was a Father (1942), An Inn in Tokyo (1935), A Story of was wearing his university uniform. Initially, he played extras Floating Weeds (1934), A Mother Should Be Loved (1934), and bit parts and became a permanent member of what was Dragnet Girl (1933), Woman of Tokyo (1933), Until the Day We called the obeya, or ‘big room’, where all the small fry of the Meet Again (1932), Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth (1932), movies waited for the big break. In 1928 he was noticed by Ozu, I Was Born, But... (1932), Spring Comes from the Ladies (1932), who saw promise in this awkward young man who seemed not Tokyo Chorus (1931), The Sorrow of the Beautiful Woman very talented. Ozu gave him a small part in Days of Youth (1931), The Lady and the Beard (1931), The Luck Which (1929). Ryû was often cast by Ozu to play older men; in Touched the Leg (1930), That tonight’s film, he was only 49, Night's Wife (1930), I Flunked, portraying a 72-year old But... (1930), Walk Cheerfully character. In 1936 when he (1930), The Life of an Office was only 32, he appeared as an Worker (1929), Days of Youth old man in The Only Son (1929), Takara no yama (1929), which was the first Ozu talkie. Wife Lost (1928) and Wakôdo no The coming of talkies in Japan yume (1928). He also has 47 had the same traumatic effect writer credits. According to as it had in Hollywood. Ryû renowned film critic Roger Ebert, had the picturesque accent of “to love movies without loving his strong Kumamoto dialect, Ozu is an impossibility.” but it gradually became accepted as part of the unusual Takanobu Saitô (b. December 8, charm of his unassuming 1924 in Tokyo, Japan—d. April character. In 1949 he received 11, 2004, age 79) studied initially the Mainichi Film Award for went to the Tokyo University of Best Actor, the first of many the Arts with the intent to become a traditional composer. During such prestigious acting awards. Ryû disarmingly says he was not his schooling, he joined a military music band and later he a natural actor, nor a good one, but for some strange reason Ozu became conductor of the Japan Air Self Defense Force Central saw potential and brought out hidden qualities that made him a Band, a position he held until he retired in 1976. Saitô’s most star. In reviewing Wenders’ documentary on Ozu, the well-known contribution to music was his adaptation of the Independent wrote, “Atsuta and Ryû go to Ozu’s grave in Japanese national anthem “Kimigayo” adding in more Kamakura. There is no name on the stone, only the character for orchestration for the symphony. He scored 8 of Ozu’s films and mu, ‘emptiness’. Ryû kneels and prays with folded hands, all was featured Wenders’ Talking with Ozu (1993). His films with dignity, humility and stillness, qualities he embodied on film and Ozu are Tokyo Story (1953), Early Spring (1956), Tokyo in real life. He was unique, inimitable.” He eventually appeared shadows (1957), Equinox Flower (1958), Floating Weeds (1959), in 52 of Ozu’s 54 films. He had a role (not always the lead) in Late Autumn (1960), Song of hydrangea (1960) and Shirobanba every one of Ozu's post-war movies, from Record of a Tenement (1962). Gentleman (1947) to An Autumn Afternoon (1962). Ryû appeared in well over 100 films by other directors. He was in Yûharu Atsuta (b. 1905 in Kobe, Japan—d. 1993, age 88, in Keisuke Kinoshita’s Twenty-four Eyes (1954) and played Japan), along with Shigehara Hideo, was one of two cameramen wartime Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki in Japan's Longest Day with whom Ozu worked almost exclusively. Atsuta worked as a (1967). Notably, from 1969 until his death in 1993 he played a cinematographer or d.p. on 37 films including What did the Lady curmudgeonly but benevolent Buddhist priest in more than forty Forget? (1937), Toda Brothers and Sisters (1941), He was a of the immensely popular It’s Tough Being a Man. Ryû parodied Father (1942), Story of an owner (1947), A Hen in the Wind this role in Jūzō Itami’s 1984 comedy The Funeral. Ryû’s last (1948), Late Spring (1949), Early summer (1951), The Taste of film was It's Tough Being a Man (1992). Green Tea Rice (1952), Trip to Tokyo (1953), Early spring (1956), Dusk in Tokyo (1957), Equinox Flowers (1958), Hello Chieko Higashiyama (b. September 30, 1890 in Chiba, Japan— (1959), Late Autumn (1960) and The Taste of Sake (1962). In d. May 8,1980, age 89, place unknown) was known for Tokyo 1961 he won Best Photography at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival Story (1953), Sen-hime (1954) and The Idiot (1951). Graduating for Late Autumn (1960). from the girls' school at Gakushuin, she married a businessman in 1909 and spent eight years in Moscow. In 1925, at the age of Chishû Ryû (b. May 13, 1904 in Kumamoto, Japan—d. March 35, she decided to become an actress and began training at the 16, 1993, age 88, in Yokohama, Japan) was the second son of the Tsukiji Shōgekijō. She appeared in many stage productions, most priest of Raishoji Temple in the village of Kumamoto Prefecture famously as Madame Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard. Her on the island of Kyushu. His childhood and religious upbringing late start in acting did not hinder her career. She appeared in had a great influence on his character later in life. In 1924, he more than 60 films from 1936 to 1967, when she finally retired went to Tokyo to study Indian philosophy at Toyo Daigaku. In from acting. A selection of her films include Zoku ô-oku maruhi 1925, the Shochiku Movie Company held its first auditions and monogatari (1967), The River Kino (1966), Miyamoto Musashi: Ryû’s classmates dared him to go. By his own admission, he was The Duel at Ichijoji (1964), Sing, Young People! (1963), Diary of not particularly good-looking, but to his astonishment he was a Mad Old Man (1962), The Wandering Princess (1960), Spring accepted. He found out later he had won the audition because he Dreams (1960), The Snow Flurry (1959), Image Wife (1958), Ozu—TOKYO STORY—3 Tokyo Story (1953), Sincerity (1953), Carmen Falls in Love father—as well as his preoccupations with themes of separation (1952), Sisters of Nishijin (1952), Early Summer (1951), The and loneliness.