Good morning, Japan 1959.
Director: Yasujirō Ozu Yasu Jiro
Starring: MasuoFujikiYoshikiKuga
Duration: 97 minutes
In the history of Japanese national films, Yasujirō Ozu seems to occupy a more important position than Akira Kurosawa and Kenji Mizoguchi, and only he can make films with Japanese national style. Although Good Morning is not Yasujirō Ozu's most famous film, it, like his other works, is deeply branded with his personal style.
The family life of ordinary people is an eternal theme in Yasujirō Ozu's films. Good morning tells the story of several family lives in a Japanese community. There are no ups and downs, and there are no fierce emotional conflicts. Everything is expressed through many carefully arranged meaningful and soothing plots. The TV set is the only clue of the story: it begins with the two sons of Lin Jingtai's family clamoring to buy a TV set, and the ending is that their wishes have come true. In fact, it is meaningless for me to repeat the plot here. When watching this film, what we should really pay attention to is how Yasujiro uses his film skills to express family conflicts in Japanese society.
Japanese people are deeply influenced by Zen Buddhism in China, which can be seen from the fact that the midwife's mother often recites Buddha's prayer beads. Japanese people also have high artistic achievements in calligraphy and tea ceremony, which were first introduced to Japan from China and then developed there. The reason is that it just meets the psychological and aesthetic requirements of the Japanese. Whether you want to write a good calligraphy or make a good pot of tea, you can't do it without a quiet and peaceful mind. Watching Ozu's movies can also have such a quiet and peaceful experience. In Ozu's films, everything is calm, people are polite, they say hello when they meet, and then talk about today's weather. The days are as dull as water.
Ozu also shows unique national characteristics in the picture composition of his films. Throughout Good Morning, the lens position always seems to be below the waist, and there is basically no moving lens. The camera always observes people at a slight elevation. Japanese film critic Tadao Sato explained the reason: "Japanese people are used to leaning forward and sitting on straw mats. Therefore, taking this posture from an elevation angle can look sedate and dignified ... Just sitting on a straw mat is precisely the most common and boring moment in Japanese life. " Moreover, most of his films are still (this is different from Hou Xiaoxian's still long shot, which has a coherent and rhythmic switching), and then the camera position is completely in line with an audience sitting cross-legged on the ground quietly listening to the dialogue between the characters in the play.
After watching this movie, it reminds me of Tian Zhuangzhuang's recent remark to his new film Spring in a Small Town: "impetuous people don't watch this movie." Yes, Ozu's film wants you to calm down and savor it.