home
had a wooden fence
with boards that went from the top
down to the ground.
But the cheaper ones
had a space at the bottom.
Upper-class homes
had bamboo fences.
The higher the class,
the thinner the bamboo.
Only wealthy families
had fences like that.
So you used to set this camera
in this low position?
YUHARU ATSUTA - CINEMATOGRAPHER
This is a low-angle position.
We used higher positions
for shooting actors.
Ozu decided
on the composition himself.
The assistant cameramen
would unlock the camera like this
so it would move.
Then he would look?
Yes. I steadied it here.
So he would tell you
when it was right?
Yes. He'd determine the position.
Then I'd take over.
For example, I'd see if the screen
was out too much.
You mean like this screen,
for example?
Then I'd ask Ozu to take another look.
So he'd take another look?
Close the door a little bit.
That's how we worked.
Ozu didn't use low-angle shots
just for style.
KANETO SHI NDO - DIRECTOR
Ozu got to the heart of Japan.
He really got to the heart
of what ordinary people were like.
In order to do that,
he had to use Japanese-style rooms
with shoji screens,
futon pallets and tatami mats,
all straight lines and right angles.
Low camera angles are best
for filming a setting like that.
Then, he confined living beings
within these rigid forms.
I think he was trying
to express his ideas through that.
That's why he never panned
or moved the camera.
No high-angle shots either.
The camera angles with which
he was most comfortable
bound him within narrow limits.
If you don't have strict limitations,
you probably won't think
your ideas through so carefully.
Those limitations make you
condense your thoughts
into a more concentrated form.
That creative process
is something you can't do without.
On April 2, 1934,
Ozu's father, Toranosuke,
died of a heart attack.
He was 69 years old.
In There Was a Father,
in the scene where my character dies,
Ozu directed me to act it out
in the same way his father died.
He showed me just what it was like.
THERE WAS A FATHER
Father!
Get a doctor.
Father!
Take off my coat.
I feel strange.
SHOCHI KU FILMS - OFUNA STUDIOS
In 1936, Shochiku Films moved
its studio from Kamata to Ofuna.
Ozu moved into a rented house
with his mother and his brother Nobuzo.
Ultimately, both the Kihachi series
and the college series
ended up dealing with the difficulties
between parents and their children.
This is a theme he pursued
throughout his life: the circle oflife.
Focusing on this subject,
The Only Son is central to his work.
This was the first
Mohara System talkie.
It was also an important film
in the history of Shochiku Films,
the first one made
at their new Ofuna Studios.
You should go to high school.
I thought it over last night.
Four of your classmates are going.
You're class leader. If you don't go,
it will be awkward for me.
So you're going to go to junior high.
Senior high, too.
Study hard and be a great man.
Mother, do you like Sugiko?
Why not?
She seems like a good girl.
I was worried about
whether you'd like her.
What did you think
I'd grow up to be?
Aren't you disappointed?
Why?
This isn't how I expected it to be.
I wish I hadn't come to Tokyo.
I'm sorry I can't be more,
even after graduating.
Maybe it wasn't worth it
to go to school in Tokyo.
I've caused you so much hardship.
What makes you think that?
How can you feel that way,
when your life has only just begun?
Perhaps you're right,
but chances are
this little game may already
be coming to an end.
How do you expect me to react
to such careless talk?
I wish I lived with you
in the country.
These larks are really singing.
JAPANESE ARMY CLASHES
WITH CHINESE ARMY
The China Incident
occurred in July, 1937.
On September 9, Ozu was drafted.
Two weeks earlier, on August 25th,
director Sadao Yamanaka was drafted.
He came to say good-bye to Ozu.
His last film was released
that