Last night I watched
Humanity and Paper Balloons by Sadao Yamanaka and
Late Spring by Yasujiro Ozu.
I learned about Sadao Yamanaka after reading Yasujiro Ozu's Wikipedia page - apparently the two directors met and became friends during their time serving the Imperial Army in WWII (
here's a cool picture of them [Yamanaka is on the right]). Ozu obviously survived the war and made it back to Japan to go on to become one of the most influential directors of all time, but Yamanaka fell ill and eventually died. Before his death, Yamanaka directed 26 films between 1932 and 1938, only 3 of which still survive -
Humanity and Paper Balloons is often considered to be his masterpiece. In 85 minutes, the film manages to explore several interconnected facets of life in a Japanese slum - the crime lords who run the slums; star-crossed lovers kept apart by status and marriage obligations; a con man trying to make a buck; a jobless Ronin and his overworked wife; a thieving peasant and a blind masseur. The stories play off of one another in an almost poetic fashion, the camera work is precise and methodical (very similar to Ozu in that sense) and the characters are all as interesting as they are sympathetic. It's a shame Yamanaka died so early in his career - though a contemporary of Ozu, Mizoguchi, and Naruse, Yamanaka's style was decidedly ahead of it's time, most closely resembling that of Akira Kurosawa and Masaki Kobayashi. Had he lived to see Japan's post-war influx of film production, I'm sure he would have been regarded as one of the all-time greats of Japanese (or indeed, World) cinema. Also, he looked like a
stone-cold pimp.
Late Spring is the first film in Ozu's crazy-influential "Noriko Trilogy" (followed by
Early Summer and
Tokyo Story) and tells the story of a 27 y/o woman (Noriko) who has recently recovered from the hard labor she was forced to endure during the war, and whose family is determined to see her finally married despite her protests ('Late Spring' refers to Noriko's fading youth and the slim window of opportunity she has to find a husband). The film deals a lot with things like identity, growing up, and fitting into the expectations of society. It's clearly a very personal film for Ozu; like Noriko, Ozu never had any intention to marry (and indeed, never did) and instead preferred to take care of his elderly mother for the rest of his days (Ozu was also
probably gay, though there's nothing to suggest the same of Noriko). All in all, I enjoyed
Late Spring more than the more critically-adored
Tokyo Story because it works on so many different levels that exist outside the film's narrative (ie, the parallels to Ozu's life) and provides an interesting documentation of the development of Ozu's signature style.
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EDIT:
I just watched Jean Vigo's
Zero de Conduite and I've gotta give the man props. He managed to tackle some pretty racey themes for a 1933 film (namely homosexuality and pedophilia), and he did so in the most stylistic and effervescent way possible (the film is quite funny). I haven't seen
L'Atlante yet but it's definitely moved up a bit in my To-Watch list after seeing how good ZdC is.
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EDIT 2:
Because I'm a sad loser, my Friday night was spent watching movies. I watched Kenji Mizoguchi's
Osaka Elegy and Yasujiro Ozu's
Early Summer. Blah blah blah "contemplative, insightful commentary on Japanese society" blah blah blah "beautiful, poetic cinematography" blah blah blah "
art". /splooge
Consequently, that puts me at 150 movies watched this year.
List Update:
