dramatic action to the fore,
I left empty spaces, so viewers could
have a pleasant aftertaste to savor. ''
I'll never forget this one scene
where I'm talking with Setsuko Hara,
CHIKAGE AWASHIMA -ACTRESS
and I say,
''You've already made up your mind?''
We were drinking tea, so I had to
bring the cup to my mouth,
and I was supposed to turn
to look at her just so.
Ozu would say I turned too soon,
or I lifted the cup too quickly,
or I turned too late,
or my line was too slow
and I needed
to say it a little faster.
It was one thing after another
for more than 20 takes.
I eventually lost count and hardly
knew what I was doing anymore.
But then suddenly he said,
''The one before last was best.
We'll go with that one.''
And by then I had absolutely
no idea which one he meant.
I still remember that.
You've already made up your mind?
So suddenly?
When will you go?
The next time he comes back
from Akita.
This is such a surprise.
I never expected to see the day
when you'd leave Tokyo.
Why not?
I've always had this picture of you.
White flowers in your garden,
strains of Chopin filling the house,
a fancy tiled kitchen
with an electric refrigerator,
open the door
and it's filled with Coca-Cola.
That's the kind of housewife
I pictured you becoming.
Then I'd come to visit,
and I'd find you on your porch
under a striped awning,
wearing a white sweater
and playing with your Scotch terrier.
You call over the fence in English,
''Hello. How are you?''
Don't be silly.
Really. That's how I pictured you.
Instead, you're moving
to the boonies.
Are you really going to wear
farmwife breeches?
Why not?
Mornin' there, Miz Neighbor.
Sho iz mighty fine wedda
we ben havin'.
Can you talk like that?
Nacherly. Been practisin'.
When I got out of college in 1951 ,
there were seven of us new hires.
SHOHEI I MAMURA - DI RECTOR
We drew lots,
and I got assigned to Ozu's staff.
I didn't know much about films,
but I remembered seeing Ozu,
things like Brothers and Sisters of
the Toda Family and I Graduated, But...
So I thought, ''Wow, I'm going to work
for a real big-time director.''
He happened to be making
Early Summer at the time,
but it wasn't until quite a while later
that I finally understood
why he did this or that
the way he did.
There was one scene where
Setsuko Hara sits alone at the table
eating green tea on rice
with pickles.
I remember being the one
who prepared the pickles for her.
She eats with these easy,
fluid motions, enjoying her food.
And there's something very sensual
about the way she does it,
though this didn't really sink in until
I was directing my Unholy Desire.
Now when I compare
Masumi Harukawa in my movie
with Setsuko Hara in Ozu's,
I wonder if maybe my direction
demanded too much.
I've sometimes asked myself that.
After returning toJapan, Ozu lived
in his office at the studio for a time,
but then he moved into a house
in Kamakura with his mother.
There he developed friendships
with many of the cultural figures
who lived in Kamakura, including
Ton Satomi,Jiro Osaragi, Hidemi Kon,
and Nagamasa and Kashiko Kawakita.
TON SATOMI RESI DENCE, KAMAKURA
There were several senior authors,
or literati, of the time
who Ozu particularly looked up to.
Of them all,you simply
cannot overlook Naoya Shiga,
and among them, too, was my father,
Ton Satomi, who lived in this house.
I think these two men
really helped ground Ozu as a writer.
SHIZUO YAMANOUCHI
SHOCHI KU DI RECTOR, SON OF TON SATOMI
He seemed to be
particularly in awe of Naoya Shiga.
Shiga was like a god to him.
''Just being in his presence
gives me