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Yasujirô Ozu(1903-1963)

  • Writer
  • Director
  • Additional Crew
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Yasujirô Ozu in Equinox Flower (1958)
Tokyo-born Yasujiro Ozu was a movie buff from childhood, often playing hooky from school in order to see Hollywood movies in his local theatre. In 1923 he landed a job as a camera assistant at Shochiku Studios in Tokyo. Three years later, he was made an assistant director and directed his first film the next year, Zange no yaiba (1927). Ozu made thirty-five silent films, and a trilogy of youth comedies with serious overtones he turned out in the late 1920s and early 1930s placed him in the front ranks of Japanese directors. He made his first sound film in 1936, The Only Son (1936), but was drafted into the Japanese Army the next year, being posted to China for two years and then to Singapore when World War II started. Shortly before the war ended he was captured by British forces and spent six months in a P.O.W. facility. At war's end he went back to Shochiku, and his experiences during the war resulted in his making more serious, thoughtful films at a much slower pace than he had previously. His most famous film, Tokyo Story (1953), is generally considered by critics and film buffs alike to be his "masterpiece" and is regarded by many as not only one of Ozu's best films but one of the best films ever made. He also turned out such classics of Japanese film as The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952), Floating Weeds (1959) and An Autumn Afternoon (1962).

Ozu, who never married and lived with his mother all his life, died of cancer in 1963, two years after she passed.
BornDecember 12, 1903
DiedDecember 12, 1963(60)
BornDecember 12, 1903
DiedDecember 12, 1963(60)
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A still in the 16mm film in which the TUA filmmakers intended to revive the image of traditional Japanese women, and to succeed the legacy of Yasujiro Ozu's pure Japanese filmmaking.
Yasujirô Ozu in Equinox Flower (1958)

Known for

Setsuko Hara and Chishû Ryû in Tokyo Story (1953)
Tokyo Story
8.2
  • Writer
  • 1953
Late Spring (1949)
Late Spring
8.2
  • Writer
  • 1949
Early Summer (1951)
Early Summer
8.1
  • Writer
  • 1951
I Was Born, But... (1932)
I Was Born, But...
7.9
  • Writer(as James Maki)
  • 1932

Credits

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IMDbPro

Writer

  • A still in the 16mm film in which the filmmakers intend to revive the image of traditional Japanese woman, and to succeed the legacy of Yasujiro Ozu's filmmaking.
    Yasujirô Ozu's Bakushû: The Remake of Early Summer
  • A Daughter's Marriage (2003)
    A Daughter's Marriage
    • (1949 screenplay)
  • Tôkyô monogatari (2002)
    Tôkyô monogatari
    • (1953 screenplay)
  • Shin Tôkyô monogatari
    • (1953 screenplay)
  • Shin Tôkyô monogatari
    • (1953 screenplay)
  • Umi no mieru ie
    • (1953 screenplay)
  • Danshun
    • (1963 teleplay)
  • Yûyake sora
    • (1953 screenplay)
  • Tôkyô monogatari
    • (1953 screenplay)
  • Danshun (1966)
    Danshun
    • (1963 teleplay)
  • Umarete wa mita keredo
  • Banshun
    • (1949 screenplay)
  • Toda-ke no kyôdai
    • (1941 screenplay)
  • Toshirô Mayuzumi, Ineko Arima, Ryô Ikebe, Shima Iwashita, Mariko Kaga, Daisuke Katô, Miyuki Kuwano, Shin'ichirô Mikami, Mitsuko Mori, Teruko Nagaoka, Hiroyuki Nagato, Nobuo Nakamura, Kôgo Noda, Mariko Okada, Nobuko Otowa, Chishû Ryû, Minoru Shibuya, Kinzô Shin, Yoshio Shirasaka, Yoshi Sugihara, Haruko Sugimura, Yôko Tsukasa, Isao Yamagata, Hiroyuki Nagaoka, Kenji Sonoda, Toshirô Kaoru, and Shirô Jyôto in Radishes and Carrots (1965)
    Radishes and Carrots
  • Seishun hôkago

Director

  • An Autumn Afternoon (1962)
    An Autumn Afternoon
  • The End of Summer (1961)
    The End of Summer
  • Late Autumn (1960)
    Late Autumn
  • Floating Weeds (1959)
    Floating Weeds
  • Good Morning (1959)
    Good Morning
  • Equinox Flower (1958)
    Equinox Flower
  • Tokyo Twilight (1957)
    Tokyo Twilight
  • Early Spring (1956)
    Early Spring
  • Setsuko Hara and Chishû Ryû in Tokyo Story (1953)
    Tokyo Story
  • The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952)
    The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice
  • Early Summer (1951)
    Early Summer
  • Hideko Takamine and Kinuyo Tanaka in Munekata kyôdai (1950)
    Munekata kyôdai
  • Late Spring (1949)
    Late Spring
  • A Hen in the Wind (1948)
    A Hen in the Wind
  • Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947)
    Record of a Tenement Gentleman

Additional Crew

  • It's Me Here, Bellett (1964)
    It's Me Here, Bellett
  • Chiezô Kataoka in Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji (1955)
    Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji

Personal details

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    • Official Site
    • December 12, 1903
    • Tokyo, Japan
    • December 12, 1963
    • Tokyo, Japan(throat cancer)
    • (Sibling)
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Biographical Movie
    • 2 Print Biographies
    • 6 Articles

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    His grave bears no name, just the character 'mu' ("nothingness").
  • Quotes
    I have formulated my own directing style in my head, proceeding without any unnecessary imitation of others.
    • Rigorous use of static camera positioned only a few feet from floor

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