Yasujirō Ozu facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Yasujirō Ozu
小津 安二郎
Ozu in 1951
Born	(1903-12-12)12 December 1903 Tokyo, Empire of Japan
Died	12 December 1963(1963-12-12) (aged 60) Tokyo, Japan
Resting place	Engaku-ji, Kamakura, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Other names	James Maki
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter
Years active	1929–1963
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 6+1⁄2 in)
Movement	Shomin-geki
Japanese name
Hiragana	おづ やすじろう
Katakana	オヅ ヤスジロウ
Transcriptions Romanization Ozu Yasujirō

Yasujirō Ozu (小津 安二郎, Ozu Yasujirō, 12 December 1903 – 12 December 1963) was a famous Japanese film director and writer. He started making movies when films had no sound (silent films) and continued until the early 1960s, when movies were in color. At first, Ozu made short funny movies. Later, in the 1930s, he started making films about more serious topics.

His movies often explored themes like family, marriage, and how different generations interact. Some of his most loved films are Late Spring (1949), Tokyo Story (1953), and An Autumn Afternoon (1962). Many people consider Ozu one of the best and most important filmmakers ever. His movies are still praised today. In a 2012 poll by Sight & Sound magazine, his film Tokyo Story was voted the third-greatest film of all time by critics worldwide. Directors and filmmakers also voted Tokyo Story the greatest film of all time in the same poll.

Life of Yasujirō Ozu

Early Years

Yasujirō Ozu was born in Fukagawa, Tokyo, on December 12, 1903. He was the second son of Toranosuke Ozu, a merchant, and his wife Asae. When he was three, he became very sick with meningitis, but his mother took great care of him, and he recovered.

In 1913, when Ozu was nine, his father sent him and his siblings to live in Matsusaka in Mie Prefecture. He stayed there until 1924. In 1916, at age 12, he started high school. He often skipped classes to watch movies like Quo Vadis. After seeing the film Civilization in 1917, he decided he wanted to become a film director.

After graduating high school in 1921, Ozu tried to get into Kobe University but didn't pass the exam. He also failed an exam for a teacher training college in 1922. He then worked as a substitute teacher in Mie Prefecture. In 1923, he moved back to Tokyo to live with his family.

Starting in Movies

Yasujiro Ozu in Dragnet Girl (1933)

On August 1, 1923, Ozu got a job at the Shochiku Film Company. He started as an assistant in the camera department, even though his father didn't want him to. His family's home was destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, but everyone was safe.

Ozu served in the military for a year, from December 1924 to November 1925. In 1926, he became a third assistant director at Shochiku. He was promoted to director in September 1927 and made his first film, Sword of Penitence, which is now lost. He wrote this film with Kogo Noda, who became his co-writer for many years.

In 1928, the head of Shochiku studio decided to focus on short comedy films without big stars. Ozu made many of these. His film Body Beautiful (1928) was the first to use a low camera position, which became his unique style. In 1929, he made his first film with famous actors, I Graduated, But.... For his screenwriting, Ozu sometimes used the name "James Maki."

In 1932, his film I Was Born, But... was a comedy about childhood with serious ideas. Critics loved it, calling it an important film that looked at society in Japan. Ozu was slow to make movies with sound. His first "talkie" was The Only Son in 1936.

During Wartime

In September 1937, Ozu was called to join the Imperial Japanese Army. He spent two years in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He was stationed in places like Shanghai and Nanjing. In 1939, he returned to Japan.

After the war, Ozu wrote the first version of the script for The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice. His first film after returning was Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941), which was very successful. He then made Chichi Ariki (There Was a Father, 1942), which showed the strong bond between a father and son.

In 1943, Ozu was sent to Singapore to make a documentary. He spent a year there reading, playing tennis, and watching American films. He was very impressed by Orson Welles's Citizen Kane. When World War II ended in 1945, Ozu destroyed the film he was working on. He returned to Japan in February 1946.

After the War

Ozu's first film after the war was Record of a Tenement Gentleman in 1947. He often wrote his scripts at a Japanese inn called Chigasakikan Ryokan. Later, he and his co-writer Noda used a small house in the mountains to write.

Ozu's grave at Engaku-ji, Kamakura in 2018.

Ozu's films from the late 1940s onwards were very popular. The "Noriko trilogy," starring Setsuko Hara, includes Late Spring (1949), Early Summer (1951), and Tokyo Story (1953). Tokyo Story is often seen as his greatest work. These films helped Ozu become very successful.

His first color film was Equinox Flower in 1958. Other color films include Floating Weeds (1959) and Late Autumn (1960). Ozu often worked with the same people, like cinematographer Yuharu Atsuta and actors Chishū Ryū, Setsuko Hara, and Haruko Sugimura.

Ozu's films were not often shown outside Japan until the 1960s. His last film was An Autumn Afternoon, released in 1962. He was the president of the Directors Guild of Japan from 1955 until he died. Ozu never married and lived with his mother until she passed away, just before his own death.

Yasujirō Ozu died of throat cancer on his sixtieth birthday in 1963. His grave, which he shares with his mother, has no name. It only has the Japanese character mu, which means "nothingness."

Ozu's Unique Film Style

Setsuko Hara (left) and Yasujirō Ozu (far right) on location of Tokyo Story (1953)

Ozu is famous for his unique way of making films, both in how they look and the stories they tell. His style became very clear in his later films, especially after he started making sound films. He didn't follow the usual rules of Hollywood movies.

Instead of showing actors from over their shoulder during conversations, his camera looked directly at them. This made viewers feel like they were right in the middle of the scene. Ozu always used a 50mm lens, which is thought to be closest to how human eyes see.

Ozu also had a special way of moving between scenes. He would often show still shots of objects, like buildings, as transitions. He rarely used music during the scenes themselves, but he would often use it during these transitions. As his career went on, Ozu moved the camera less and less. He stopped using tracking shots (where the camera moves along with the action) completely in his color films.

Ozu invented the "tatami shot." This is where the camera is placed very low, as if it's at the eye level of someone kneeling on a tatami mat. His camera was often even lower, just a foot or two off the ground. This meant he needed special tripods and raised sets for filming. He used this low angle even when characters were standing or walking in hallways. When he started making color films, he chose a specific German color process called Agfacolor because he felt it showed red colors much better than others.

Ozu also didn't always show important events in his stories. For example, in An Autumn Afternoon (1962), a wedding is mentioned, but the wedding itself is never shown. This was typical of his films. He avoided showing big, dramatic moments that Hollywood movies might use to make audiences feel very emotional.

Ozu's films became known around the world when they were shown outside Japan. Books by film experts like Donald Richie and David Bordwell helped many English-speaking audiences understand and appreciate Ozu's special style and themes.

Tributes and Documentaries

Many people have honored Yasujirō Ozu's work.

• Five, also known as Five Dedicated to Ozu, is an Iranian documentary film. It was directed by Abbas Kiarostami and features five long scenes by the ocean.
• In 2003, to celebrate 100 years since Ozu's birth, film festivals around the world held special events.
• The Shochiku film company made a movie called Café Lumière, directed by Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien. This film was a tribute to Ozu, especially his movie Tokyo Story.
• In a 2002 poll by the British Film Institute's Sight & Sound magazine, Ozu was voted the tenth greatest director of all time.
• Ozu's Tokyo Story has appeared many times on lists of the best films. In 2012, film directors voted it the "greatest film of all time."
• Film critic Roger Ebert said Ozu was one of his favorite filmmakers, calling him the most "humanistic" director ever.
• In 2013, director Yoji Yamada remade Tokyo Story in a modern setting, calling it Tokyo Family.
• The documentary film Tokyo-Ga by Wim Wenders explores Ozu's world. In it, Wenders travels to Japan and interviews people who worked with Ozu, like actor Chishū Ryū.

Filmography

See also

In Spanish: Yasujirō Ozu para niños