Ozu, Yasujirō (1903–1963)

Japanese film director. He made silent films until 1936, by which time his main themes and techniques were clear: an absorption in family life and the interrelationships of its members, and the use of comedy to reveal character. His Tōkyō monogatari/Tokyo Story (1953) is widely regarded as one of the great classics of world cinema.

His camera always remains about one metre above the ground, never moving and contemplative, as befits the Zen philosophy that pervades Ozu's cinema. Among his other acclaimed works are Umareta wa mita keredo/I was born, but .. (1932), Dekigokoro/Passing Fancy (1933), Hitori musuko/The Only Son (1936) (his first sound film), Toda-ke no kyōdai/Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941), Banshun/Late Spring (1949), Bakushu/Early Summer (1951), Ochazuke no aji/The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice (1952), and Samma no aji/An Autumn Afternoon (1962).

Ozu left Waseda University to join Shochiku Studios in 1923, directing his first film in 1927. Between 1927 and 1962 he completed 54 films, with Chishu Ryū acting in, and Kogo Noda co-writing, many of them.