Description: One of the most well regarded of non-Western film directors, responsible for acknowledged classics like Tokyo Story (1953), Ozu Yasujiro worked during a period of immense turbulence for Japan and its population. This book offers a new interpretation of Ozu's career, from his earliest work in the 1920s up to his death in 1963, focusing on Ozu's depiction of the everyday life and experiences of ordinary Japanese people during a time of depression, war and economic resurgence. Firmly situating him within the context of the Japanese film industry, Woojeong Joo examines Ozu's work as a studio director and his relation to sound cinema, and looks in-depth at his wartime experiences and his adaptation to postwar Japanese society. Drawing on Japanese materials not previously examined in western scholarship, this is a groundbreaking new study of a master of cinema.
Brief description: Woojeong Joo received his PhD degree from University of Warwick. He worked at University of East Anglia as a postdoctoral research assistant for AHRC funded project, 'Manga to Movies', and is currently teaching in Japan-in-Asia Cultural Studies Program at Nagoya University, Japan.
Review Quotes: Joo is a perceptive viewer of Ozu's films, particularly skilled at the structural analysis of narrative and character.[...] a major contribution to the field.--Michael Raine, Western University "Monumenta Nipponica"