Retrospective: 100 Years of Yasujiro Ozu 2003 / Nagaya shinshi roku / Japan 1947
This story of an old widow´s miraculous change of heart after meeting an abandoned boy is drawn from post-war Japanese reality. To paraphrase film scholar David Bordwell, even if Ozu had shot only this seventy-two minute film, he would have been considered one of the greatest directors of all time.
Otane, a widow who operates a store, begins taking care of an abandoned boy named Kohei - though not completely of her own free will. She makes it clear to him that he is a burden, but he doesn´t let himself be scared away. During the next several days this quiet boy wins the elderly woman over and she begins to adore him. After Otane learns how to express her feelings, Kohei´s father comes to take charge of the boy. As compensation, the lonely widow decides to adopt a child orphaned by the war. This story of a miraculous change of heart is drawn from post-war Japanese reality, but also evinces clear nostalgia for the world that existed before the outbreak of war. To paraphrase film scholar David Bordwell, even if Ozu had shot only this seventy-two-minute film, he would have been considered one of the greatest directors of all time.
72 min / Black & white, 35 mm
Director Yasujiro Ozu
/ Screenplay Tadao Ikeda, Yasujiro Ozu
/ Dir. of Photography Yuharu Atsuta
/ Music Ichiro Saito
/ Editor Yoshi Sugihara
/ Producer Kozo Kubo
/ Production Shochiku Co., Ltd.
/ Cast Choko Iida, Eitaro Ozawa, Mitsuko Yoshikawa, Hohi Aoki, Hideko Mimura, Chishu Ryu
/ Contact Shochiku Co., Ltd.
www: www.shochiku.com/film
Shochiku Co., Ltd.
4-1-1 Tsukiji, Togeki Bldg. 12th Floor, Chuo-Ku, 104 8422, Tokyo
Japan
Phone: +81 355 501 623
Fax: +81 355 501 654
E-mail: [email protected]
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