One of the most influential directors in the world, the works of Yasujiro Ozu are still considered some of the best movies ever made. A prolific director during the decades before and after the Second World War, Ozu's work is very distinctive from conventional Hollywood cinema, both in its storytelling and its editing and its cinematography.

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Ozu's style is particularly noted for its editing and camerawork, which is in stark contrast to the Hollywood style of continuity editing. Ozu said of his style: “I formulated my own directing style in my own head, proceeding without any unnecessary imitation of others … for me, there was no such thing as a teacher. I have relied entirely on my own strength.”

Tokyo Chorus (1931)

Scene from Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Chorus

Ozu's first movie, Sword Of Penitence, is a lost silent film released in 1927. Like Tokyo Chorus, the movie shares its plot with American movies of the 1920s, for example, the 1928 silent movie, The Crowd, by King Vidor. The movie is also partly based on several plots from Komatsu Kitamura's book series, Shoshimin-Gai (Middle-Class Avenue).

Of the movie, Ozu said: "I was getting sick of failure, and decided to make a film in a nonchalant mood." Ozu's commentary on his movies is always one of creative spontaneity and simplicity. However, Ozu was a very detail-oriented director, as is common in Japanese cinema. For example, the detailed fight scenes in Seven Samurai required many takes to achieve artistic perfection.

Dragnet Girl (1933)

Yasujiro Ozu - Dragnet Girl Cropped

Dragnet Girl is a break from Ozu's usual theme of family, life and simplicity. Another silent movie, Dragnet Girl is part of Ozu's pre-WWII work that reflected much of American cinema at the time. It's a silent gangster movie released in the 30s, at a time when gangster movies were popular in America during The Great Depression. Like most gangster movies, the movie features crime, violence, running from the law, and passion and seduction.

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But Ozu would immediately go back to making films in his usual style. His next movie, Passing Fancy, released in the same year, reverts back to themes of home, family and traditional Japanese identity. To exemplify this shift, the movie's protagonist visits a "rokyoku" (Japanese folk music) performance at the beginning of the movie.

What Did The Lady Forget (1937)

Yasujiro Ozu - What Did The Lady Forget Cropped

Many of Ozu's movies capture the struggle between past and future, old and young and tradition and progression. His movies often play on the conflict between the younger generation who craves liberation and the older generation who craves stability.

By this time, Ozu had moved on to sound movies. Japan was also facing significant cultural challenges as American influence reached Japanese media and Western ideals enticed Japanese youth. What Did The Lady Forget is one of Ozu's first movies to deal with a liberated young woman standing against Japanese tradition. Ozu's work can sometimes be read as feminist in a country that has patriarchal ideals baked into the foundation of its culture and society.

Record Of A Tenement Gentleman (1947)

Yasujiro Ozu - Record Of A Tenament Gentleman Cropped

Ozu made only two movies during WWII. His first movie, following the end of the war, deals with how the war ruined the childhoods of Japanese children at the time. Ozu fondly films children in many of his movies, juxtaposing their innocence against the inhumanity and selfishness of adults.

Ozu also focuses on parental love and its self-sacrificial nature. A common plot in his movies is the circle of life, whereby children eventually leave their parents, leaving parents lonely and alone in the world. As a result, most of Ozu's movies are bittersweet, reflecting the nature of life itself.

Late Spring (1949)

Co-written by screenwriter Kogo Noda, who collaborated with Ozu on many of his movies, Late Spring is the first of Ozu's "Noriko Trilogy," movies that feature a female protagonist called "Noriko." Although each Noriko is a different character, they are played by the same actor, Setsuko Hara. Ozu's work postwar belongs to the Shomin-Geki genre, a realistic movement in Japanese cinema that focuses on the everyday drama of lower-middle-class Japanese people.

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Shomin-Geki was pioneered by Yasujiro Shimazu, for whom Ozu formerly worked as an assistant. Ozu uses long, static shots, pillow shots and a very simplistic plot, all conventions of the genre.

Early Summer (1951)

Yasujiro Ozu - Early Summer Cropped

Like all Shomin-Geki directors of the 50s and 60s, Ozu was fascinated with the changing role of women in postwar Japan, and the decline of traditional family values following the influence of the West, in particular, the presence of Allied forces in postwar Japan.

Kenji Mizoguchi's The Lady Of Musashino, for example, deals with the lack of morals present in the new generation of Japanese youth. In Early Summer, Ozu's protagonist, Noriko, is a 28-year-old woman who worries her family because she is yet unwed. Ozu plays with the positives and negatives of being married and being single in postwar Japan, at a time when women began to have more agency in their lives.

Tokyo Story (1953)

Yasujiro Ozu - Tokyo Story

Considered one of the best movies ever made, Tokyo Story, the third in the Noriko Trilogy, is also Ozu's favorite movie. Tomi and Shukishi visit their children in urban Osaka and Tokyo from their rural small town of Onomichi, only to be neglected by them, as they are more concerned with making money. The elderly couple signifies rural Japan being left behind by modern, urban Japan, as Japanese cities raced towards Western capitalistic ideals, giving no thought to their forgotten culture.

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The movie is a sad look at how those left behind must deal with their loss, loneliness and disappointment. In the words of Noriko: "Everyone has to look after their own life first." As is his style, Ozu meticulously planned every shot in a movie about the spontaneity of life.

Early Spring (1956)

Yasujiro Ozu - Early Spring Cropped

Capitalism brought with it the alienation, isolation and discontent of the modern worker. Chaplin portrayed this silent madness,  visually, in Modern Times, and Ozu portrayed it, thematically, in Early Spring.

Another cog in the capitalist machine, Shoji Sugiyama begins an affair to escape the meaningless monotony of his life. The story is a simple story about an affair that almost drives a married couple apart. In his movies, Ozu portrayed marriage as a sacred tradition that was often embattled by the societal forces surrounding it.  The director was always careful to fix marriages in his movies and clearly had a soft spot for the institution itself, seeing it as a great foundation of morality within Japanese society.

The End Of Summer (1961)

Yasujiro Ozu - The End Of Summer Cropped

Ozu's penultimate movie, The End Of Summer, was part of his color films made during the late 50s and early 60s. The movie is a story about everyday life for a three-generation family in Kyoto. The family patriarch, Manbei Kohayagawa, has rekindled an affair with his former mistress, whose daughter, Yuriko, may or may not be his own child.

In her 20s, Yuriko is very influenced by American culture and prefers to date rich American capitalists who can afford to buy her material goods. She neglects Manbei, except when he promises to buy her things. Manbei is a stubborn patriarch who refuses to change his ways to save his family, either emotionally or financially. The End Of Summer contrasts the negative sides of both traditional and modern Japanese life during that period.

An Autumn Afternoon (1962)

Another one of Ozu's films to be considered a cinematic classicAn Autumn Afternoon was also his final movie before he passed away a year later. It stars Chishu Ryu, who starred as a father in many of Ozu's movies. Ryu plays Shuhei, a father who has selfishly kept his daughter from marrying to take care of him.

Realizing it is his duty to find his daughter a suitable spouse, the movie ends with Michiko leaving her father after her wedding, at which point, Shuhei finally confronts his fear of being alone. The movie deals with the WWII generation of Japanese men and the societal problems they face as they age and find themselves left behind.

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