late spring

watching late spring last night.

no other movies are as meditative and capture the passage of time and the nostalgia as subtly and beautifully as those of Yasujiro Ozu. the unmistakable stamp of ozu is writ all over- the lack of jump cuts or fades, the pillow shots, the tatami-level camera work, lack of irrelevant details and most importantly the camera that just observes still life and motion, unmoving- characters come in and out of its field of view, it keeps recording.


the plotline is very simple and a familiar one- an aging widower and his just_over_the_conventional_marriageable_age daughter and the natural, unaffected love they have for each other, played by ozu favourites Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara. Setsuko is in full bloom in the movie, especially in the first half- she is radiant with joy, just like spring itself. As the movie progresses and the separation (due to her marriage) inevitable, the sorrow or more precisely mono no aware is captured beautifully evoking the feeling associated with the approach of autumn as spring progresses- the imminent cold balanced by the prospect of beautiful colours. there is considerable use of zen imagery in the movie- the tea ceremony with which the movie opens, the Noh performance, the visit to the temples in Kyoto including the famous rock garden of Ryoanji. However, they are all used as backdrops and juxtaposed with secular and material situations perhaps hinting at the changes already happening in post-war Japan. The characters are shown indulging in seemingly trivial pursuits during these solemn occasions (talk of mending trousers, making eyes at a marriage prospect, debating about marriage). It is only in the beautiful final scene when the aging professor returns to an empty nest after his daughter's marriage ceremony and starts peeling an apple that he openly expresses his sorrow, albeit with restraint. throughout the film, ozu's camera is a detached observer cataloging changes in Japanese society without praise or blame- coca cola signs, baseball games, stenography jobs, divorce, remarriage ...


i discovered Ozu serendipitously in a large store selling rip-off DVDs and CDs in Colombo, oddly on the island of Serendip. It was a double bill of Floating Weeds, a silent version he made in the 30s and a brilliant colour remake of the same story in 1959. it was immediate seduction and continues. in my view, his films typify the japanese aesthetic and sensibilities far more than any other director (Kurosawa and Mizoguchi included). to be continued later.