15 Comments

Now this is the kind of thing I was glad to subscribe to The Reveal for!

I’m with you Keith on the whole “feeling like a poseur” thing. I’ve seen six Ozu films (and have the five Criterion blu’s on my shelf) and consider him to be one of the great directors, but then I think about how few I’ve really seen in the grand scheme of things.

Unfortunately can’t really comment on End of Summer, but I don’t think there’s a better director at establishing the homelife and culture of his country for his audiences than Ozu. I always think of An Autumn Afternoon and how it tackles the influence of Western culture on Japan after World War II.

This is the kind of thing that Yukio Mishima obsessed over and eventually killed himself to protest, but Ozu just kind of presents it as a fact of life that and the way that different generations might view this Westernization. It’s like every movie he makes is a gentle, modern version of The Leopard.

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Great piece, Keith. It also makes me think of something I've been thinking about... a lot, lately! Which is, how the hell does one decide, in this era of Everything Always, on what to watch at any given moment? I'd be curious to hear other folks' perspectives on how they navigate this dilemma. Every time I log onto the Criterion Channel, I basically have a nervous breakdown contemplating the infinite number of masterpieces (and also interesting minor films) that I have to choose from.

One thing I've been thinking about doing is basically proceeding from the start of Criterion's chronological release history and filling in the gaps that way. I've also used random number generators for certain lists (like TSPDT's, on Letterboxd), and I've proceeded chronologically through directors' ooooooo-voirs. (Ooo-vruhs?) It's hard! The tyranny of choice! Etc!

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What a great idea for a column! Great piece.

(by the way what is the name of that app that you use?)

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Great idea, my version of this is to hit random play in my Plex library when I'm not working my way through the Letterboxd Top 250. It's too hard to choose these days.

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I went through all the Ozu my library had many years ago (during the Dissolve days, so at least 6 years ago). I have to admit that the similar themes, actors, and characters make them somewhat indistinguishable in my memory (except for Tokyo Story, which was the first one I watched). That isn't to say that each film, while I watched it, didn't emotionally destroy me in a quiet and subtle way. I remember thinking the colour films in particular were so visually masterful in how restrained they used colour in small splashes. Kurosawa went all wild technicolor, whereas Ozu seemed to take a "less is more" approach.

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Great article!!

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I do this same random selection thing with my Letterboxd watchlist, using their shuffle function. It's a really good way to get to that 3,5 hour epic you otherwise would never have actually sat down for - when fate decides it's time, it's time. And when fate decides you get to watch an 80 minute exploitation movie, it feels like hitting the jackpot. So it's win/win, really.

A slightly less hardcore variation is to do the same shuffle and then take your pick from the top 5/10/etc., allowing for some more consideration of time and mood.

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