Restored Ozu films to debut for 110th anniversary events

May 12, 2013

Restored Ozu films to debut for 110th anniversary events

Film studio Shochiku Co. will celebrate the 110th anniversary of the birth of legendary director Yasujiro Ozu this year by making digitally restored versions of four of his color films and staging special events. The restored “An Autumn Afternoon” will be screened for the ...

Feb 24, 2013

The champion of Ozu's masterwork "Tokyo Story"

by Tadao Sato

Nowadays, the name of the Japanese film director Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963) is known throughout the world. But it wasn’t always like this — and it might never have been, without the efforts of Donald Richie. After Ozu’s masterpiece “Tokyo Story” was released in 1953, ...

'Sado Tenpesuto'

Feb 15, 2013

'Sado Tenpesuto'

by Mark Schilling

Beginning with 2001′s “Ichiban Utsukushi Natsu (Firefly Dreams),” a Yasujiro Ozu-esque drama about a friendship that develops between a rebellious teenage girl and an elderly former actress in the countryside, John Williams has been directing films in Japan with Japanese talent that do not ...

Benshi Midori Sawato

| Dec 25, 2012

Benshi Midori Sawato

by Judit Kawaguchi

Midori Sawato is a benshi, a unique kind of performer who provides live narration to silent films at the movie theater. The benshi brings the characters in films alive using different voices and vocal expressions. They sit to the side of the screen, watching ...