Customer Reviews

Ozu: His Life and Films

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Well there doesn't seem to be much info about this book here so for those of you who are wondering what s going on, I'll list the table of contents.
1 - Introduction
18 - Script
105 - Shooting
159 - Editing
186 - Conclusion
193 - Bibliographical filmography (to 253)
Those of you who are familiar with Richie's other stuff such as the Inland Sea will be happy to hear that in this book he combines his critical and writing gifts with a fairly pragmatic approach to his task.
Don't be overly wary of ramblings about transcendental this and that - certainly such notions do rear up but only in the context of technical discussion - e.g. in a discussion of the cut away shots to the vase at a crucial moment in Late Spring. Which isn't to say that Richie doesn't consider the social & moral aspects of Ozu's work at some length. This is obviously necessary for such a morally concerned artist as Ozu, and such topics highlight Richie's greatest strengths as a writer.
This book includes numerous excerpts and stills from production materials, shot sequences etc, which are mostly interesting and relevant; in fact if I had a criticism, I wouldn't mind a few more explicit examples (and counter examples from the work of other directors) especially in the discussion of composition. The Biographical Filmography section briefly covers all his films, mixed in with a fairly straightforward biography. Also recommended on the biographical front would be the docos included on the Criterion DVDs. Especially, "I lived, but..." which comes with the 2DVD Tokyo Story set .
In other words, for the English speaking reader, it would be hard to imagine a better match between subject and author. Highly recommended for any Ozu fans.
The back cover shows a youthful, exuberant Richie animatedly chatting with Ozu during the filming of Late Autumn in 1960. Ozu sits quietly, holding a cigarette...

Richie is perhaps the foremost authority on Japanese film, and I'm always impressed with how he tempers his expansive enthusiasm with remarkably insightful criticism; he's very willing to acknowledge the weaknesses as well as the strengths within a director's work. This book has a very good layout/approach to digging into Ozu's body of work and is very readable, and Richie continues to offer great insights into this director.

I saw this book (chinese edition)several years ago when I was almost 35 years old. It really shocked me!The author is so remarkable in understanding and interpreating the family in OZU films which is so real and convincing.Following the Mr.D. Richie, I, as a chinese, began to try to undersatnd the root of chinese family through a series of the OZU's films. I agree with author that the transcentalism for traditional Japanese and Chinese which the author express in the final charpter lies in the "everyday life world"and that I believe is quite different from western transcentalistic approach.This book is excellent....

Yasujiro Ozu, one of the five greatest masters of the Japanese cinema (together with Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, Hiroshi Teshigara, Kobayashi and Kaneto Shindo ) expressed in December, 1953 this wise and revealing reflection : "What do I pretend to show with a personage? Well, a word: humanism. The play that doesn't transmit humanism has not value. It's about the task of all art. In the cinema, an emotion without humanism is faulty. A person with perfect facial expression is not necessarily enabled to express humanism. In fact, an expression of emotion usually prejudices the expression of the humanism. To know control the emotion and at the meantime to express the humanism though this control ; that's the goal of any director".

What else may be added or said about the emotional impact and vital transcendence of this poet of the cinema?

A text recommended for young directors cinema lover and great audiences.