Ozu - a great Japanese film director

再談小津

4/26/2019

Original date of writing:  4/26/2017

前日貼文「有關小津」的部分，因係影友間的信簡往來，很多部分沒多作說明，亦不夠詳盡，下面「再談」或可權當補充文字：

再回來說一下小津 （ 1903 - 1963 ），身後半個世紀以來，他的作品持續享有世界各地影迷的鍾愛，小津影片紮根世俗生活體現普遍經驗，能引起大多數人的共鳴。他的藝術手法平和簡約，輕描淡繪大和民族在變遷下的多種面貌，小民們日常生活種種面象及存在表象之下更深層的東西。講的雖是日本故事卻具有普世性。 “Late Spring”「晚春」被改編成法國的 “35 Shots of Rum”，”Tokyo Story”「東京故事」被轉化成德國的”Cherry Blossoms “，照樣能打動不同觀眾的心。

再談一下小津的當代同業木下惠介「24 隻眼睛」、「楢山節考」（舊版），黑澤明「羅生門」、「影武者」及較晚一些的山田洋次「母親」、「黃昏清兵衞」。木下的電影在日本本土早些年來一直比黑澤影片受民眾歡迎，而黑澤的名氣在國外比在日本響亮。山田則更貼近庶民生活，更加通俗（通俗也可以有格調）。在許多影評人眼中，黑澤大氣、小津精緻、木下溫婉，他們各有各的髙妙處，當然亦有欠缺的地方，風格各異，影迷群也自不同。處在不同年代的創作者，其藝術作品肯定烙有時代印記、政治及道德觀念受制於當代的風潮，用今日的眼光去看待或許有失公允。然則青菜蘿蔔，毎人口味不同，幸好我們的選擇夠多，不愁找不到自己喜愛的電影及導演。

註：2007 - 2016 年間，我負責的影社曾經放映過下列影片：

   （2013）
> Floating Weeds 「浮草 」 - Yasujiro Ozu 小津安二郎

> Ballad of Narayama 「楢山節考 」 - Keisuke Kinoshita 木下惠介

> Woman of the Dunes 「砂丘之女」- Teshigahara勅使河原宏

   （2015）

 > 35 Shots of Rum - Claire Denis （France)

Grace

電影雜談 （關於小津安二郎）- e 信簡

movie Talk

電影雜談

4/24/2019

Letter to a friend discussed Ozu's influence on films worldwide

You're welcome.  I am watching the "Tokyo Family" right now, not quite finished yet.  It is a modern version of  "Tokyo Story" with only a few minor changes over Ozu's original.  Just to be fair it is a decent rendition of the same story, a bit too closely following the original screenplay down to the scenes some of the shots are almost identically.

In contrast I much enjoy the German made film "Cherry Blossoms."  Even though I don't know whether Ozu's storyline was acknowledged in this movie, the changes or the differences are quite fitting to the backdrop of a modern society Germany or otherwise.  And the movie can certainly be evaluated independent of the well-known original it is based on.

10/31/2013

在台北時讀了一本書或許你們會感興趣。作者名野上照代，她父母的故事在山田洋次 2008年的「母親」中有較戲劇性之演繹。野上照代即片中的小女𠒇阿照。

她年輕時就和伊丹萬作認識且經常書信往返，稱之為恩師。在老師去世之後又做了伊丹十三（本名岳彥）的保姆。進入電影界後認識不少名流，也做了黑澤明的製作助理，一直到他逝世。

這本傳記寫得趣味盎然，加上她生動的插圖，讀起來親切又有趣。書中講述不少黑澤明拍片過程，包括「影武者」 中處理馬匹及士兵屍橫遍野的畫面，以及「夢」片中一段梵谷名畫重現金黃麥田中野鴉亂飛的情境，讓人更加佩服黑澤明對藝術的執着及他在拍片中處理技術方面不少過人的做法。

總之，對電影有興趣的人這是相當可讀的一本書。

Grace

8/24/2015 (Correspondent with film group members, other than Henry who’s organizer of (SVMLC), a movie club, the names of other participants were not shown.

Thank you Henry for your various input.  "Pickpocket" is the first Bresson film I saw and I am not aware of what constitutes transcendentalism in films.  Love to hear what you have to say after viewing the film yet again.

"Woman in the Dunes" however is what I would coin a perfect example of artistic film made to excel in almost every aspect of film making. 

Not only in cinematography, screenplay and sound effect does it establish itself as an outstanding work, this simple story (or allegory) with so many undercurrent themes layered and woven into the storyline in such impeccable fashion that it comes out as an organic whole.

  When I said "Ida" is like an exquisite work of art, a statue of a beautiful woman if you may,

"Woman in the Dunes" stands even taller in that the woman (of the statue) is more sophisticated and there are nuances and details abundant to be explored.

Again, it is one of my all time favorite films although my thoughts can be biased.

That is why I appreciated the ideas from you thru this exchange.

K, I hope I didn't spoil your fun in watching the film on your own.

Do we want to wait until K watches the films before further discussion? She has a talent of seeing things differently.  Besides, this will force her to watch the films earlier.

Grace

Sin Nombre

Sin Nombre 

(Nameless)

7/30/2014

A Honduran young girl and a Mexican gangster are united in a journey across the American border.

Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga (as Cary Jôji Fukunaga)

Writer: Cary Joji Fukunaga

Stars: Paulina Gaitan, Marco Antonio Aguirre

(From IMDB)


I just finished watching a 2009 movie about the perilous journey of some central Americans and Mexicans trying to flee their homelands in hope of making it to their dream paradise - the United States.  Having not heard about the film before, I was taken by surprise and was moderately shocked by some of the most gritty depiction of gang movies I have ever seen. Made by first time director Cary Fukunaga who garnered the Sundance Festival award of the year for directing this debut film which took him 2 years researching. He spent time with those people en route to the border (on top of trains, etc.) and conducted several interviews with hardened gang members whom he depicted in this film.  This is not a documentary but looks and feels like one with an authentic storyline and superb acting ( by lesser known local actors.)

I thought "City of God" was hard to watch because of the graphic violence it depicted.  There's more cruelty and senseless killings of gang violence in this one.  It also portrays some of the most endearing human emotions which was lacking in the former film.  I strongly recommend this film to the die-hard film buff - it is definitely not for the faint-hearted viewers.

Grace