influenced by this old Edo tradition. EQUI NOX FLOWER I remember the scene in Equinox Flower where the family is eating together. Ozu borrowed all the tableware from a fancy restaurant, INEKO ARIMA -ACTRESS and the bowls and plates and tea cups were simply gorgeous. But then he spent half a day going back and forth between table and camera to get them arranged just the way he wanted. Meanwhile, all of us actors were getting more nervous by the minute. That's what it was like with him. He had to have the real thing. That's what it was like with him. He had to have the real thing. And he was just as fussy about arranging us. ''Sit like this, with your hands here, your eyes on this, your head this way.'' He'd spell out everything and then tell us to speak, correcting our every inflection, over and over. We weren't free to interpret anything ourselves. But when I look at his films now, I understand what he was doing. He was trying to reduce things to their most basic essence, free of all excess. That was his art. That is why his films are now internationally acclaimed. Equinox Flower of 1958. was Ozu's first color film. We were on the train to Toriyama, going to a chicken restaurant, RYUICHI YOKOYAMA - CARTOONIST and I told Ozu he ought to make a color film. I said, ''First everyone moved to sound - even Chaplin finally came around - and now everyone is using color. It's time. Stop holding out like Chaplin did with sound. Make a color film.'' It was autumn, and the reeds growing alongside the tracks were a beautiful golden brown. Off in the distance, we saw a charming little house. ''Tell me,'' I said, ''what color would you make that house?'' Without a moment's pause, he said, ''Green!'' I'm in love with someone. Really? And? Mother doesn't like it. Why not? She's never happy unless I do exactly what she wants. But this time I can't. Besides, we're already engaged. And who is he? An old friend. But Mother wants me to marry the son of some Osaka wholesaler. ''He's such a nice boy,'' she says. ''From an old house, with lots of money. It's settled. No ifs, ands, or buts. Just leave everything to me. The fortune slip at Fushimi shrine said you'd find a good match in the west.'' It's not funny. ''Omatsu, you prepare a big offering in the morning, and Yukiko, you take it to the shrine and thank the gods.'' That's what she said. And did you? Why should I? It's stupid. And then what happened? She was furious. ''What can you be thinking? Don't you realize what a good match this is? Like no other! Are you trying to turn the gods against you?'' She was so angry, I just got up and left. With Ozu, everything had to be authentic. When he needed the usual accoutrements for a bar scene, he asked me to lend him the stuff from my bar at home. But I told him, ''My stuff s all fake. Go find a bar in Ginza that can lend you the real stuff.'' I remember that happened once. It always had to be the real deal. Once he was drinking and wanted me to join him, so who does he send? He sends Keiji Sada to get me. The man's a big star, but Ozu uses him like a prop. So that time he sent Sada as his messenger to invite me for a drink. Other times, he would be my guest. We drank together a lot. In any case, he had a thing about authenticity. Everything had to be the real deal. On February 25, 1959, Ozu was awarded the Art Academy Prize. It was in 1959, at the Directors Association dinner, that I first met Mr. Ozu. Mr. Fujimoto, the Toho executive, said he wanted me to meet someone, and he introduced me to Mr. Ozu. The two of us stood by this big concrete pillar YOKO TSUKASA -ACTRESS and talked about all sorts of things. Considering how much older he was, he ------------------------------ Читайте также: - текст Питер Фм на английском - текст Леди Джейн на английском - текст Алиса на английском - текст Вий на английском - текст Кубик-Рубик на английском |