SERIES
December at the Trylon
Yasujirō Ozu worked almost exclusively within the shomin-geki (“common people drama”) tradition, telling gentle stories of multigenerational families during the great cultural shifts of postwar Japan. His low-angle framing and light touch were prominent from the beginning of his career, but the films he made in the last five years of his life have a distinctive melancholy beauty. All in 35mm!
(1959, 94m, Japanese w/English subtitles) dir Yasujirō Ozu w/Keiji Sada, Kôji Shitara, Masahiko Shimazu. The Hayashi brothers (Shitara, Shimazu) simply must have a television set, but their mother (Kuniko Miyake) won’t allow it, so they take a vow of silence. This playful satire of consumerism and generational divide is gorgeously photographed by Ozu’s collaborator Yûharu…
Screenings: December 6 7:00, 9:00, December 7 7:00, 9:00, December 8 3:00, 5:00
(1958, 118m, Japanese w/English subtitles) dir Yasujirō Ozu w/Kinuyo Tanaka, Ineko Arima, Shin Saburi. Rich businessman Wataru Hirayama (Saburi) and his wife, Kiyoko, (Tanaka) learn, to their dismay, that their daughter (Arima) will marry a man they’ve never met. Ozu’s first color film portrays a deep empathy for youth in evolving postwar Japan. FRI/SAT 7:00…
Screenings: December 13 7:00, 9:30, December 14 7:00, 9:30, December 15 3:00, 5:30
(1960, 128m, Japanese w/English subtitles) dir Yasujirō Ozu w/Setsuko Hara, Yôko Tsukasa, Mariko Okada. A widow (Hara) and three of her late husband’s best friends gently try to persuade her daughter, Ayako, (Tsukasa) to marry in this tender drama of changing traditions and generational concern. FRI/SAT 7:00 9:30 SUN 3:00 5:30
Screenings: December 20 7:00, 9:30, December 21 7:00, 9:30, December 22 3:00, 5:30
(1962, 113m, Japanese w/English subtitles) dir Yasujirō Ozu w/Chishû Ryû, Shima Iwashita, Keiji Sada. Shuhei Hirayama (Ryû), the father of three adult children, is compelled to arrange a marriage for his youngest daughter (Iwashita). Ryû appeared in 52 of Ozu’s 54 films, and it’s appropriate that their partnership closes with this beautiful film, Ozu’s last.…
Screenings: December 27 7:00, 9:15, December 28 7:00, 9:15, December 29 3:00, 5:15