Yazujiro Ozu

Trying to figure out who Ozu is, I immediately contacted my best friend, Google. I noticed that most people describe him as the most Japanese director, and consider his films quintessentially Japanese.

This term is often formulated as a praise of his work: in the West, he is an author that is admired, because "he is quintessentially Japanese.
Paradoxically Japanese studios were reluctant to release his films in the West, as they felt that his films were too Japanese to be understood.

At first glance, it may appear as if contemporary western audiences and the Japanese studios of the time held the same opinion. However, this could not be further from the truth.

Japanese film studios saw him as too Japanese because the films he made were seen as too tied, with Japanese cultural values and philosophical views. Instead, Western audiences seem to enjoy watching Ozu's films, because they provide an authentic Japanese experience, because of that Ozu's films tend to be seen as idealistic by Japanese audiences and realistic by western audiences.

'West looks East'

Hot takes: "The West's opinion on Ozu.

TW: R-Word

The sentiment is ridiculous, quite odd and racist. No American director was ever called the most American director, and no one ever had to pick between Godard/Truffaut as the most french director.

Because it did not fucking matter.

A director can never completely showcase reality or realism, as films are just an interpretation of one director. By that virtue, we need to refrain from such statements.

Culture cannot be translated in its entirety, so some concepts, habits, ideas, beliefs etc. This is also apparent in films, some gags are universal, and other jokes get lost in translation. And there are facets of a culture that are more widely recognizable. They all still belong to one culture; we don't have the right to rank these aspects.

Finally, my point is that Ozu cannot be the most Japanese director, because his films are as Japanese as Samurais are Japanese as animes are Japanese as everything Japanese is Japanese.

TW:TW

sorry for this rant, but everytime I read most Japanese I had to vomit in my mouth. I needed to give it a place.

Filmography

THEMES 

OZU-LIKE, OZU-ESQUE
OZUNIAN
OZU-ISH

I encountered Ozu in a quite unorthodox way. I had a brief obsession with Technicolor films. Yeah, just films in Technicolor.
Because of how vibrant and pretty the colour red appeared in the films.

This obsession led me to Ohayo! I loved Ohayo immediately and I would rewatch it four more times.

Watching Ohayo for the first time. I was in love with the placement of reds in a scene.
After watching An Autumn Afternoon

pls take me to a place less old kaaya

got u bby
click on green