Yasujiro Ozu
His films were the first body of work that really challenged my views on art. All those things I felt I “had to do” to make something went out the window, because here is someone who didn’t do any of that, and made some of the most powerful images I’ve ever seen. Still to this day I will watch one of his films and there will always be that moment where I start to feel for the characters without ever realizing I was invested at all in the story. He made characters that you never observed or followed, he made characters you lived with. The lack of story or plot always makes his films appear simple, but in fact they are some of the most complex I know of by how painstakingly they show every aspect of someone’s day. I think it can be easier to write a story arc that only contains action and leave out all the little things that makes up one’s life. The more and more I try to make smaller, more personal projects I start to see how difficult they can be. You really have to have that type of mind, that view on life to make it work. Ozu always viewed everything in perspective of the greater whole. The drama of something bad happening was always dampened by the knowledge of another day has to be lived. There was always a beginning and an end, and both were constantly in motion. There’s really nothing more fitting to his work that the man was born and died on December 12th after making over 50 films in only 60 years. I was going to do a screening of his work tonight, but sadly I just have too much work to get done. There are plenty of his films online if you look though, and I encourage you all to check them out.
