[KineJapan] Ozu at Yokohama

Sun Apr 9 23:03:51 EDT 2023

Fantastic review, Markus!

I agree that it's worth going to see the exhibition just to see the original storyboards and scripts.

About the clothing, I remember thinking that Ozu must be tall when I saw one of his complete outfits.

Best,

[cid:image004.jpg at 01D96B69.CEE2F9E0]

Lorenzo J. Torres Hortelano

Vicedecano de Investigación y Relaciones Internacionales

Vice-Dean of Research and International Relations

Profesor Titular/Professor

Facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación

Departamento de Ciencias de la Comunicación y Sociología

Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

Edificio de Gestión - Decanato

Camino del Molino s/n, 28943 Fuenlabrada

+34 91 488 73 11

lorenzojavier.torres.hortelano at urjc.es<mailto:lorenzojavier.torres.hortelano at urjc.es> | www.urjc.es<http://www.urjc.es/> |

Lorenzo Torres Academia.edu<https://urjc.academia.edu/ljtorres>

De: Markus Nornes<mailto:nornes at umich.edu>
Enviado: lunes, 10 de abril de 2023 4:47
Para: Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum<mailto:kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>
CC: Lorenzo Javier Torres Hortelano<mailto:lorenzojavier.torres.hortelano at urjc.es>
Asunto: Re: [KineJapan] Ozu at Yokohama

I just went to this as well.

It is a really fantastic exhibition and any Ozu fans should definitely make the trek to Yokohama.

While there is quite a bit of PR material that is available at any library, at least half the objects are letters, postcards, and photographs. The letters are accompanied by katsuji labels so you can actually read them—the cursive brush or micro-characters make it tough going if you want to read the handwriting.

Some of the things that struck me:

  *   Storyboards of his silent films show how completely self-conscious he was about composition. I mean, it's clear from the films themselves; however, to see how intricate the preplaning was was really impressive.
  *   The exhibition did not shy away from his wartime experiences. Indeed, that section was one of the highlights of the exhibition. Moreover, they didn't pull the punches. A large poster had a quote from Ozu's diary, which went something like this: "We walked down a road toward the front and came upon the bodies of both civilian men and enemy soldiers. A baby was sitting in the middle of the road, with some stale bread around him. It was unclear if one of the bodies was his father. We were marching in 4 columns, and with complicated feelings the line of soldiers split into two, passing the crying infant on either side. The landscape in the background was an endless field of rapeseed flowers swaying in the wind. It was unbearably cinematic, but everyone tried not to look."
  *   Another striking aspect of this section was Ozu's enthusiasm for the war project. It's common knowledge that Ozu was in Singapore at the end of the war, but the critical focus has always been on the way it gave him a chance to watch American films (realizing they'd lose the war when he saw Fantasia, etc.). But he was a real flag waver; his job there was the preproduction on major kokusaku propaganda films. One project was Burma Military Operation (Biruma sakusen), which was to be shot on location. The other was To Delhi, To Delhi (Deri e, Deri e). They also displayed various magazine clippings that showed how the media made a huge deal of Ozu joining the military. It was strikingly similar to the press for Hollywood stars joining the military. Finally, they had two hand towels that Ozu signed and designed toward the end of the war, and they were rather shocking. One was a Japanese tank going over barbed wire. The other had a drawing of what looked like the outer walls at Nanking and a couple Japanese soldiers with the flag waving above. Ozu brushed 皇風万里 ("Thousands of Miles Under the Benevolent Rule of the Emperor").
  *   Personal copies of scripts showed how he drew lines between utterances on the page to split each actor's line into single shots. Fascinating.
  *   Various paintings and pottery that he loved and used in multiple films.
  *   Personal effects, clothing, desk, etc.——I was delighted to see he had glasses virtually identical to my new specs!
  *   A handful of the diaries opened to specific pages. I've always been struck by the brevity of the entries in the published diaries. Well, the diaries themselves are the size of business cards!
  *   Okada Mariko will be appearing next week to talk about her appearances in Ozu's last films.
It was wonderful, and will be ending soon. Run!

Markus

PS: As Lorenzo noted, all the labels are in Japanese. However, the entrance has a handout that translates the big text introducing each section of the exhibit.

PPS: There is a FANTASTIC catalog for this exhibit. Tons of photos that give a good sense for what it is like.

---
[https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/mail-sig/AIorK4wpadRRhHYSz0N5UbUflm2YEIclCcg0bTCCBEh81fkJ8isCMwomHpMoky49pEF7xzc4MTMR-PM]
Markus Nornes
Professor of Asian Cinema
Department of Film, Television and Media, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design

Homepage: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nornes/
Department of Film, Television and Media
6348 North Quad
105 S. State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285

On Wed, Apr 5, 2023 at 10:58 AM Lorenzo Javier Torres Hortelano via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>> wrote:
Yesterday I visited this exhibition in Ozu’s life on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of his death: https://www.kanabun.or.jp/exhibition/17721/

In general I am not a fan of memorabilia, but this is a very profuse and well-organized exhibition, with some photos that I had not seen, for example, several with his mother.

The only downside is that the explanatory posters were only in Japanese —my fault…. I wonder that perhaps, in Japan, they still think of Ozu as someone who can only be liked by the Japanese...

Best wishes,

[cid:image005.jpg at 01D96B69.CEE2F9E0]

Lorenzo J. Torres Hortelano

Vicedecano de Investigación y Relaciones Internacionales

Vice-Dean of Research and International Relations

Profesor Titular/Professor

Facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación

Departamento de Ciencias de la Comunicación y Sociología

Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

Edificio de Gestión - Decanato

Camino del Molino s/n, 28943 Fuenlabrada

+34 91 488 73 11

lorenzojavier.torres.hortelano at urjc.es<mailto:lorenzojavier.torres.hortelano at urjc.es> | www.urjc.es<http://www.urjc.es/> |

Lorenzo Torres Academia.edu<https://urjc.academia.edu/ljtorres>

_______________________________________________
KineJapan mailing list
KineJapan at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:KineJapan at mailman.yale.edu>
https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/kinejapan

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/kinejapan/attachments/20230410/c0280438/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: BAC63B65FA814A9E92798D51E673DB12.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 9594 bytes
Desc: BAC63B65FA814A9E92798D51E673DB12.jpg
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/kinejapan/attachments/20230410/c0280438/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: A81AEDDB1F7E4890B8F863EDB3622D26.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 9527 bytes
Desc: A81AEDDB1F7E4890B8F863EDB3622D26.jpg
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/kinejapan/attachments/20230410/c0280438/attachment-0003.jpg>