once again curls up through the lingering maple leaves. Though I am no Ishidomaru, the brevity ofhuman life, fleeting as a bubble on water, presses through my abstracted daze. But to the night's lodgings and dinner my thoughts quickly drift. Eager to eat, eager to drink, there's no use in lingering. I descend from Koya's mount in indecent haste. Here and there lamps flicker to life as dusk descends on the monastery. On the altar, left behind, one tiny urn. In it, my mother's ashes. How cold she must feel.'' Ozu often said, ''Actors shouldn't do their own thing, trying different things on each take. I'm the gardener. I'm the one who prunes the trees and shrubs according to how I want them to look in the end. I can't have the trees and shrubs moving or growing however they want. If they do that, I can't prune them properly.'' Ozu worked as if he were directing a puppet play. He moved the actors precisely as he wished. But the only way inanimate puppets can move a human audience is if their operators are able to give them souls. Ozu was trying to do the same with his actors, to give them souls according to his vision, and to capture them on film. I think that's what he was trying to do. Ozu was famous for requiring lots of takes, FUJIO SUGA -ACTOR and your performance gets stiffer as you repeat it over and over. Ozu said, ''An actor has to be able to do the exact same thing twice. And another thing. If an actor just does what he thinks will be good, it'll almost always look bad.'' That's what he used to tell me. Ouch. Ozu told me I had a traditional kind of sex appeal, MUTSUKO SAKURA -ACTRESS so I wasn't suited to roles in Western clothing. He said I should play a chic young woman from Tokyo's old merchant district. That's why he cast me in Tokyo Story as a woman who owns a traditional eatery. I don't remember him ever giving me a hard time. SHINICHI ROMIKAMI -ACTOR And when I think about why, I suppose he probably thought it useless to try to train me. But he did often invite me to go drinking. I think he probably thought that was all I was good for. On April 10, 1963, Ozu was hospitalized with a growth in his throat. NURSING DIARY- KEIJI SADA July 1 , 1963. SADA'S DAUGHTER, KIE NAKAI -ACTRESS The 82nd day in the hospital. After the operation on April 1 7, he undetwent additional therapy with cobalt and radium. I've heard such therapies are used for treating cancer. ''In all my 60 years,'' he said, ''I never thought time moved slowly. But I have no words to describe how long this last week felt with this needle in me.'' After the needle was taken out, he had lost so much weight I hardly recognized him. ''No words to describe it,'' he repeated over and over. September 5, 1963. The doctors informed us that Ozu is suffering from cancer. Cancer. It really was cancer. Several of us who knew him best discussed what to do. We were determined to help him beat the cancer. September 15, 1963. I told Ozu I had no pictures ofhim with my son and used that as an excuse to take his picture. His gray beard had grown out, and he looked painfully weak. I steeled myself and pressed the shutter. September 20, 1963. ''There's no index for pain,'' he remarked. ''I can't say my pain today is 100 or 112. All I can say is that it hurts. There is no other way to describe pain.'' He sounded very frustrated. November 14, 1963. My daughter Kie's Seven-Five-Three Festival. I took her to the hospital wearing a kimono Ozu had chosen for her. He was asleep when we arrived. I thought about leaving, but I took her in anyway to let her see his face, and he woke up. '' ------------------------------ Читайте также: - текст Лучшие друзья на английском - текст Как разобраться с делами на английском - текст Страна глухих на английском - текст Александр маленький на английском - текст Принцесса на горошине на английском |