Ozu: Biographical Note

Yasujiro Ozu: born in 1903; never got married; stayed with his aging mother who was taking care of him; started to work in the cinema industry in the twenties; his first movie was made in 1927 (Zange no yaiba - Sword of Penitence); worked from the beginning with screenwriter Kôgo Nada; they developed a great friendship, and enjoyed working days and nights, with whiskey bottles near them; the stock of empty bottles was keeping on growying; Ozu enjoyed definitely drinking, because he enjoyed life; he could be convinced to make his first sound movie only in 1936 (Hitory musuko - The Only Son); he was terribly conservative in his tastes, and stubborn; war came, and he was called for the military, to make propaganda films; he was a POW for half an year, in 1945; his first post-war movie was made in 1947 (Nagaya shinshiroku - The Record of a Tenement Gentleman); then there were his great movies; however, one should not forget his masterpieces from the thirties; I watched the silent Ukikusa monogatari - A Story of Floating Weeds; you can compare it with the remake (Ukigusa - Floating Weeds, made in 1959); the movie from 1934 is astonishing; he could be convinced to make color films only at the end; his first color was Higanbana - Equinox Flower, in 1958; it is said that Setsuko Hara was his great love; I wish it was true: this woman, so beautiful, and so good-hearted, and him, full of life, bon-viveur, stubborn and nice; fifty four movies directed by him: the last one (Sanma no Aji - An Autumn Afternoon) was made in 1962 ; Ozu went to the hospital in 1963, a cancer that evolved rapidly; he died on the very day of his 60th anniversary; when his friends came to see him at the hospital, to bring gifts to him, he was already dead; Setsuko Hara did not attend his funeral; on his tombstone only one hieroglyph, MU, it means void.





(Yasujiro Ozu and Setsuko Hara)