The genius of the everyday detail
YASUJIRO OZU was a filmmaking genius for many reasons, including his impeccable eye for everyday detail.I watched Ozu's classic silent film "TOKYO NO KORASU (TOKYO CHORUS)" on DVD last night.
Although the film was set and filmed in 1931, Ozu's details of family life -- bickering children, pained looks passed among parents with oblivious children nearby and parental doting over a child battling illness -- could have been lifted from any contemporary home.
Charismatic but ill-fated leading man TOKIHIKO OKADA plays Shinki Okajima, a wage-earning dad who loses his job, then scrambles for the employment necessary to support his growing family.
Okada radiates positive cheerfulness in the role. Tragically, Okada died of tuberculosis nearly three years after this film's release and just shy of his 31st birthday.
"Tokyo No Korasu" is also a treat for showing the emerging elements of Ozu's style, including the low camera angles, the side-by-side composition of people conversing and the use of seemingly random location shots (of building facades, sunflowers, etc.) to establish a change of scene.
It is a fantastic film to experience.
posted by erik hogstrom at 5:32 AM
3 Comments:
Where did you find that movie? Turn to the classifieds and and look under Japanese silent films?
Carnegie-Stout Public Library in Dubuque has a copy:
http://tinyurl.com/58qzkz
The Carnegie-Stout Public Library in Dubuque is where I obtained this fine film. They have some other Ozu films as well, and I will probably check out all of them eventually!
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