Biography for
Yasujiro Ozu More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

12 December 1903, Tokyo, Japan

Date of Death

12 December 1963, Tokyo, Japan (cancer)

Height

5' 6½" (1.69 m)

Trade Mark

Rigorous use of static camera positioned only a few feet from floor.

Recurring theme of changes in post-war Japanese family and society (Tôkyô monogatari (1953), Ukigusa (1959)).

The presence of the color red in his color films.

Characters looking directly into the camera.

Shots that violate the 180 degree rule (The rule states that cameras filming a conversation must stay on one side of an imaginary line drawn between two people talking or continuity will be broken).

Trivia

Retrospective at the 53rd Berlin International Film Festival. [2003]

Retrospective in 2003 at the 27th São Paulo International Film Festival

Biography in John Wakeman, editor, "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945," pp. 850-858. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.

Thirty-four-film Retrospective during 2005 at Northwest Film Forum in Seattle.

Thought of as the world's greatest director by many film critics and theorists alike.

Personal Quotes

I have formulated my own directing style in my head, proceeding without any unnecessary imitation of others.

Watching Fantasia (1940) I understood we could never win the war. These people seem to like complications, I thought to myself.

Browse biographies section by name

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z