"This
is my tribute to Yasujiro Ozu. Ozu's
cinema is a kindly cinema. He values
interactions, natural relationships,
the natural human in all his films.
His long shots, are everlasting
and respectful. The interactions
between people happen in the long
shots and this is the respect that
Ibelieve Ozu felt for his audience.
Maybe one of the reasons for Ozu's
everlasting appeal is that he worked
on simple subjects and in his mise
en scène, he respected the
rights of the audience as an intelligent
audience. His films were not usually
very technical, which would make
them appear nervous and melodramatic
which you find with today's montage
facilities."
- Abbas Kiarostami on Ozu |
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FIVE
dedicated to Ozu
Abbas
Kiarostami / 2003 / 74 min
Acclaimed
Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami (A Taste
of Cherry, Through the Olive Trees)
pays homage to Yasujiro Ozu, the brilliant
Japanese filmmaker whose spare but evocative
style has been a major influence on Kiarostami's
work. Canny and sublime, the 74-minute film
is comprised of five long, apparently single
takes of a beach on the Caspian Sea, all focusing
on the ocean, comprised of virtually no camera
movement and enveloped in rapturous natural
sound. Richly poetic and shot on a hand-held
DV camera, the film features five extended,
apparently single-take sequences:
1.
The camera accompanies a piece of wood with
which the waves are toying, at the beach.
2. People are walking along, by the seaside.
Older people stop, look at the waves, then
walk away.
3.
Indistinct shapes on a beach in winter.
A group of dogs. A love story.
4.
Ducks noisily cross the frame in one direction,
then the other.
5.
A pond. Nighttime. Frogs. A chorus of sounds.
Then, a storm, and finally, dawn.
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