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[Wim Wenders] If in our century
there are still sacred things,
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00:00:19,561 --> 00:00:24,315
if there were something like a sacred
treasure of the cinema,
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00:00:24,315 --> 00:00:26,359
then for me it would have to be
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00:00:26,359 --> 00:00:32,615
the work of the Japanese
director Yasujiro Ozu.
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00:00:32,615 --> 00:00:35,577
He made 54 films.
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00:00:35,577 --> 00:00:37,579
Silent films in the Twenties,
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00:00:37,579 --> 00:00:40,123
black-and-white films in the
Thirties and Forties,
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00:00:40,623 --> 00:00:46,129
and finally, color films until his
death on December 12th, 1963,
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on his 60th birthday.
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00:00:50,884 --> 00:00:53,178
With extreme economy of means
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00:00:53,178 --> 00:00:56,264
and reduced to but the bare essentials,
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00:00:56,723 --> 00:01:01,102
Ozu's films again and again
tell the same simple story,
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00:01:01,102 --> 00:01:06,608
always of the same people
and the same city: Tokyo.
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00:01:06,608 --> 00:01:09,652
This chronicle, spanning
nearly 40 years,
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00:01:09,652 --> 00:01:13,615
depicts the transformation
of life in Japan.
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00:01:13,615 --> 00:01:18,620
Ozu's films deal with the slow
deterioration of the Japanese family,
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00:01:18,620 --> 00:01:23,208
and thereby with the deterioration
of a national identity.
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00:01:23,541 --> 00:01:25,919
But they do so not by pointing with dismay
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00:01:25,919 --> 00:01:29,089
at what is new, Western,
or American,
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00:01:29,089 --> 00:01:33,635
but by lamenting with an unindulged
sense of nostalgia
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00:01:33,635 --> 00:01:37,055
the loss taking place at the same time.
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00:01:37,514 --> 00:01:40,975
As thoroughly Japanese as they are,
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00:01:40,975 --> 00:01:45,480
these films are, at the same
time, universal.
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00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,441
In them I've been able to
recognize all families
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00:01:48,942 --> 00:01:50,985
in all the countries of the world,
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00:01:50,985 --> 00:01:55,490
as well as my parents, my
brother, and myself.
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00:01:55,949 --> 00:01:59,160
For me, never before, and
never again since,
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00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:03,998
has the cinema been so close to
its essence and its purpose:
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00:02:04,541 --> 00:02:06,960
to present an image of
man in our century,
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a useable, true and valid image
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00:02:10,839 --> 00:02:14,009
in which you not only
recognize himself,
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but from which, above all, he may
learn about himself.
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00:03:13,365 --> 00:03:16,493
- Good morning.
- Oh, good morning.
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00:03:16,493 --> 00:03:19,162
- Leaving today?
- Yes, this afternoon.
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00:03:22,499 --> 00:03:26,461
This is our chance to see
all our children together.
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00:03:26,461 --> 00:03:31,675
They must be looking forward
to your arrival in Tokyo.
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00:03:32,634 --> 00:03:35,762
Keep an eye on our house
while we're gone, will you?
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00:03:35,888 --> 00:03:37,931
Don't worry.
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00:03:37,931 --> 00:03:42,227
I'm jealous that your children
have all turned out so well.
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00:03:42,227 --> 00:03:44,271
You're lucky!
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00:03:44,271 --> 00:03:46,899
I suppose so.
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The weather is really splendid.
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It's a blessing.
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00:03:51,987 --> 00:03:54,740
Have a safe trip and have fun.
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00:03:54,740 --> 00:03:56,909
Thank you.
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00:04:02,539 --> 00:04:04,875
I can't find the inflatable cushion.
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It has to be here.
Look again.
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Wait, here it is.
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00:04:12,174 --> 00:04:14,760
- Find it?
- Yep, got it.
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00:04:30,583 --> 00:04:35,046
[Wenders] Anyway, Ozu's work
does not need my praise,
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00:04:35,046 --> 00:04:37,548
and such a sacred treasure
of the cinema
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00:04:37,548 --> 00:04:42,053
could only reside in the realm
of the imagination.
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00:04:42,053 --> 00:04:47,558
And so, my trip to Tokyo was
in no way a pilgrimage.
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00:04:47,558 --> 00:04:53,064
I was curious as to whether I still could
track down something from this time,
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00:04:53,064 --> 00:04:56,567
whether there was still anything
left of this work.
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00:04:56,567 --> 00:05:01,072
Images, perhaps, or even people.
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00:05:01,072 --> 00:05:03,574
Or whether so much would
have changed in Tokyo
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00:05:03,574 --> 00:05:05,576
in the 20 years since Ozu's death,
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00:05:06,077 --> 00:05:08,579
that nothing would be left to find.
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00:05:21,592 --> 00:05:24,011
[Wenders] I don't have the
slightest recollection.
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I just don't remember anymore.
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00:05:27,098 --> 00:05:29,600
I know I was in Tokyo.
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I know it was the spring of '83.
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I know.
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00:05:34,563 --> 00:05:37,608
I had a camera with me,
and I shot footage.
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00:05:37,608 --> 00:05:42,613
These images now exist, and they
have become my memory.
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00:05:42,613 --> 00:05:45,116
But I can't help thinking
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00:05:45,116 --> 00:05:47,618
if I'd been there without the camera,
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00:05:47,618 --> 00:05:50,579
I'd now be able to better remember.
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00:05:58,129 --> 00:06:00,131
[Wenders] On the flight over,
they showed a film.
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00:06:00,131 --> 00:06:02,133
And like always, I tried
not to watch it,
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00:06:02,133 --> 00:06:06,095
and like always, I found
myself watching it.
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00:06:06,095 --> 00:06:09,598
Without the sound, the images on
the tiny screen up front
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00:06:09,598 --> 00:06:12,101
seemed only that much more empty to me.
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00:06:12,101 --> 00:06:16,606
A hollow form, feigning and
imitating emotion.
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00:06:19,609 --> 00:06:22,528
It felt good just to look
out the window.
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00:06:23,029 --> 00:06:26,532
"If only it were possible to film
like that", I though to myself,
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00:06:27,033 --> 00:06:29,535
"like when you open your
eyes sometimes.
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Just to look, without wanting
to prove anything."
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00:08:36,537 --> 00:08:38,122
[people talking in Japanese]
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00:09:10,863 --> 00:09:14,367
[Wenders] Tokyo was like a dream.
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00:09:14,367 --> 00:09:16,869
And today, my own images
appear to me
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00:09:16,869 --> 00:09:18,871
as if they were invented,
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00:09:18,871 --> 00:09:22,875
like when, after a long time,
you find a slip of paper
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00:09:23,376 --> 00:09:27,380
on which you once had scribbled down a
dream on the first light of dawn.
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00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:28,881
You read it in amazement,
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00:09:28,881 --> 00:09:30,883
and you don't recognize a thing,
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00:09:30,883 --> 00:09:33,886
as if it were someone else's dream.
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00:09:33,886 --> 00:09:36,889
And so, I now find it
hard to believe
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00:09:37,390 --> 00:09:40,393
that I actually stumbled
upon this cemetery,
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where, beneath the blossoming
cherry trees,
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00:09:43,896 --> 00:09:48,401
picnicking groups of men sat
and drank and laughed,
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00:09:48,401 --> 00:09:51,404
cameras were clicking everywhere,
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00:09:51,404 --> 00:09:58,035
and the cawing of the ravens kept ringing
in my ears for sometime to come.
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00:09:58,035 --> 00:10:00,037
[ravens cawing]
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00:10:47,209 --> 00:10:51,213
[Wenders] It was only upon seeing
a little boy in the subway,
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00:10:51,213 --> 00:10:54,717
a boy who simply didn't want
to take another step,
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00:10:54,717 --> 00:10:57,637
that I realized why my images of Tokyo
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seem to me like those of a sleepwalker.
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00:11:01,724 --> 00:11:04,226
No other city, along with its people,
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00:11:04,226 --> 00:11:07,730
has ever felt so familiar
and so intimate to me
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00:11:08,230 --> 00:11:10,232
long before I ever managed
to go there,
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mainly for the films of Ozu.
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00:11:13,235 --> 00:11:16,238
I wanted to rediscover
this familiarity,
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00:11:16,238 --> 00:11:22,244
and it was this intimacy that my images
of Tokyo were trying to find.
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00:11:22,244 --> 00:11:24,246
In this little boy in the subway,
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00:11:24,747 --> 00:11:29,251
I recognized one of the many rebellious
children from Ozu's films.
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00:11:29,251 --> 00:11:32,254
Or maybe I just wanted to recognize.
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00:11:32,254 --> 00:11:36,759
Perhaps I was searching for something
that no longer existed.
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00:13:06,724 --> 00:13:10,436
[game machines buzzing]
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[buzzing]
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[beeping]
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[metal balls dropping]
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[beeping]
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[beeping and buzzing]
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[Wenders] Late into that night,
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and then late into all the
following nights,
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00:15:20,650 --> 00:15:24,153
I lost myself in one of the
many Pachinko parlors,
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00:15:24,153 --> 00:15:29,158
in the deafening noise where you sit
in front of your machine -
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00:15:29,659 --> 00:15:31,661
one player among many,
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00:15:31,661 --> 00:15:35,081
yet for that reason, all
the more alone -
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00:15:35,081 --> 00:15:37,083
and watch the countless metal balls
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00:15:37,083 --> 00:15:40,086
dance between the nails
on the way out,
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00:15:40,086 --> 00:15:44,590
or once in a while into
a winning game.
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00:15:44,590 --> 00:15:47,343
This game induces a kind of hypnosis,
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00:15:47,635 --> 00:15:50,721
a strange feeling of happiness.
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00:15:50,721 --> 00:15:53,224
Winning is hardly important.
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00:15:53,224 --> 00:15:55,726
But time passes.
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00:15:56,227 --> 00:15:58,729
You lose touch with yourself
for a while
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00:15:58,729 --> 00:16:00,731
and merge with the machine,
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00:16:00,731 --> 00:16:06,237
and perhaps you forget what you
always wanted to forget.
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00:16:06,237 --> 00:16:09,740
This game first appeared
after the lost war
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00:16:09,740 --> 00:16:14,745
when the Japanese people had a
national trauma to forget.
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00:16:14,745 --> 00:16:16,747
Only the skillful or the lucky,
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00:16:17,248 --> 00:16:19,750
and of course the professional players,
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00:16:19,750 --> 00:16:22,753
can considerably increase
the number of balls
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00:16:22,753 --> 00:16:26,173
and trade them in afterwards
for cigarettes, food,
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00:16:26,173 --> 00:16:30,261
electronic gadgets, or
for credit slips
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00:16:30,261 --> 00:16:34,265
which, although illegal, can be
exchanged for cash
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00:16:34,265 --> 00:16:37,602
in one of the neighboring alleys.
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00:16:59,123 --> 00:17:01,042
[TV playing]
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00:17:06,505 --> 00:17:08,883
[Wenders] I took a taxi
back to the hotel.
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00:17:08,883 --> 00:17:10,676
[TV playing in taxi]
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00:17:55,429 --> 00:17:56,931
[singing in Japanese]
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00:18:21,956 --> 00:18:24,959
[applause on TV]
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00:18:24,959 --> 00:18:26,877
[commercial playing, in Japanese]
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00:18:32,967 --> 00:18:34,969
[sports announcers speaking Japanese]
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00:18:58,409 --> 00:19:00,453
[Wenders] The more the reality of Tokyo
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00:19:00,453 --> 00:19:03,914
struck me as a torrent of
impersonal, unkind,
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00:19:03,914 --> 00:19:08,461
threatening, yes, even inhuman images,
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00:19:08,461 --> 00:19:11,380
the greater and more powerful
it became in my mind
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00:19:11,380 --> 00:19:13,924
the images of the loving,
ordered world
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00:19:14,425 --> 00:19:18,929
of the mythical city of Tokyo that I knew
from the films of Yasujiro Ozu.
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00:19:21,432 --> 00:19:25,895
Perhaps that was what
no longer existed:
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00:19:25,895 --> 00:19:31,943
A view which still could achieve order
in a world out of order.
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00:19:31,943 --> 00:19:35,947
A view which could still render
the world transparent.
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00:19:35,947 --> 00:19:41,619
[speaking Japanese]
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00:19:41,786 --> 00:19:45,539
[Wenders] Perhaps such a view is
no longer possible today,
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00:19:45,539 --> 00:19:49,460
not even for Ozu, were he still alive.
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00:19:49,835 --> 00:19:53,089
Perhaps the frantically growing
inflation of images
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00:19:53,089 --> 00:19:56,509
has already destroyed too much.
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00:19:56,509 --> 00:20:00,304
Perhaps images at one with the world
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are already lost forever.
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00:20:02,807 --> 00:20:05,226
[American movie dubbed in Japanese]
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00:20:38,217 --> 00:20:39,677
[Wenders] When John Wayne left,
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00:20:39,677 --> 00:20:42,680
it wasn't the Stars and Stripe
that appeared,
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00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:46,684
but rather the red ball of
the Japanese flag.
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00:20:46,684 --> 00:20:51,689
And while I was falling asleep,
I had the craziest thought:
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00:20:51,689 --> 00:20:54,692
"Where I am now is the
center of the world.
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00:20:54,692 --> 00:20:57,236
"Every shitty television set,
no matter where,
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00:20:57,695 --> 00:20:58,696
"is the center of the world.
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00:20:59,238 --> 00:21:01,240
"The center has become
a ludicrous idea,
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00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:02,700
"and the world as well:
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00:21:02,700 --> 00:21:05,703
"An image of the world,
a ludicrous idea.
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00:21:05,703 --> 00:21:07,705
"the more TV sets there
are on the globe.
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00:21:08,247 --> 00:21:13,711
"And here I am in the country that builds
them all for the whole world
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00:21:13,711 --> 00:21:18,257
so that the whole world can watch
the American images."
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00:21:22,219 --> 00:21:24,221
On one of the following days,
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00:21:24,722 --> 00:21:26,974
I visited the actor Chishu Ryu.
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00:21:27,183 --> 00:21:30,728
He had played in nearly
all of Ozu's films
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00:21:30,728 --> 00:21:33,272
ever since the days of the silents,
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00:21:33,272 --> 00:21:38,277
often in the roles of men much
older than himself.
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00:21:38,277 --> 00:21:42,198
In many of Ozu's films,
he was the father,
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00:21:42,198 --> 00:21:45,618
although he himself was barely older
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00:21:45,618 --> 00:21:50,081
than the actors and actresses who
played his sons and daughters.
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00:21:50,081 --> 00:21:55,127
I once saw him in two different films
of Ozu on one and the same day.
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00:21:55,127 --> 00:21:57,630
In the first film from
the early Thirties,
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00:21:57,630 --> 00:22:01,634
he portrayed the life of a man
from youth through old age.
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00:22:01,634 --> 00:22:04,637
And in the second film from
the end of the Fifties,
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00:22:05,137 --> 00:22:09,141
he himself really was as old as
the role he had played then.
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00:22:09,642 --> 00:22:12,144
The characters in the stories
in both films
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00:22:12,144 --> 00:22:14,647
were nearly identical.
193
00:22:14,647 --> 00:22:18,150
Never before have I felt such
respect for an actor
194
00:22:18,150 --> 00:22:21,946
as on this day for Chishu Ryu.
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00:22:21,946 --> 00:22:24,782
I tried to explain this to him,
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00:22:25,283 --> 00:22:28,286
but my compliment only
embarrassed him.
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00:22:28,286 --> 00:22:32,290
He sidestepped it modestly.
198
00:22:59,358 --> 00:23:02,862
[Wenders] At that time, he said,
his real age was 30,
199
00:23:02,862 --> 00:23:07,867
and the role I'd asked him about
was that of a 60-year-old.
200
00:23:07,867 --> 00:23:12,413
The point wasn't to act old age,
but only to look old.
201
00:23:12,413 --> 00:23:16,417
He didn't concern himself with anything
else except looking old.
202
00:23:16,876 --> 00:23:20,421
Ozu always told him how to do something,
203
00:23:20,421 --> 00:23:25,384
and then he carried out his orders without
giving it a second thought.
204
00:23:25,384 --> 00:23:29,388
Anyway, acting under Ozu was
much less a matter
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00:23:29,388 --> 00:23:33,392
of bringing discoveries and
experiences to a role
206
00:23:33,392 --> 00:23:37,271
as of precisely carrying out
Ozu's instructions.
207
00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:54,664
[Wenders] I asked him if Ozu
had rehearsed much.
208
00:24:20,022 --> 00:24:23,526
[Wenders] That depended on how
difficult the scene was.
209
00:24:23,526 --> 00:24:26,529
Many times two or three rehearsals
were enough,
210
00:24:27,029 --> 00:24:29,031
and then the scene was shot.
211
00:24:29,532 --> 00:24:33,035
But in his case, that he
had to admit,
212
00:24:33,035 --> 00:24:37,540
Ozu was rarely satisfied with
a first or second take.
213
00:24:37,540 --> 00:24:42,044
With him, Ryu, things took
quite a while.
214
00:24:42,044 --> 00:24:45,548
He remembered once rehearsing a
scene more than 20 times
215
00:24:45,548 --> 00:24:49,051
and then shooting it more than
20 times as well.
216
00:24:49,051 --> 00:24:53,055
He himself didn't have any idea
what he was doing wrong
217
00:24:53,055 --> 00:24:55,558
and simply thought to himself,
218
00:24:55,558 --> 00:24:59,061
"Even a poor marksman will
hit the bull's-eye
219
00:24:59,061 --> 00:25:02,064
if he just keeps blasting
away long enough."
220
00:25:02,064 --> 00:25:06,569
Afterwards, Ozu merely asked
him, in all friendliness,
221
00:25:06,569 --> 00:25:11,574
"Ryu, today's not one of your
better days, is it?
222
00:25:11,574 --> 00:25:14,577
Or are you trying to
test my patience?"
223
00:25:15,077 --> 00:25:17,079
At any rate, with other actors,
224
00:25:17,580 --> 00:25:18,998
better actors than himself,
225
00:25:19,540 --> 00:25:23,085
Ozu was often satisfied with
one or two takes.
226
00:25:23,085 --> 00:25:27,089
But working with him, Ryu, must
have been difficult,
227
00:25:27,089 --> 00:25:32,094
and so he had to consider himself in
the ranks of the less talented.
228
00:25:45,524 --> 00:25:48,527
[Wenders] For Ryu, the
relationship to Ozu
229
00:25:48,527 --> 00:25:51,530
was always that of a pupil
to his teacher,
230
00:25:51,530 --> 00:25:53,991
or of a son to his father.
231
00:25:53,991 --> 00:25:57,995
Although Ozu was only a year
older than he was,
232
00:25:57,995 --> 00:25:59,538
there was an enormous distance
233
00:25:59,538 --> 00:26:02,541
between the two of them in
terms of intellect,
234
00:26:02,541 --> 00:26:05,544
and Ozu was always the teacher,
235
00:26:05,544 --> 00:26:10,007
the master from whom he, Ryu,
had only to learn,
236
00:26:10,007 --> 00:26:13,010
from beginning to end.
237
00:26:35,783 --> 00:26:37,285
[Wenders] Ozu, the master,
238
00:26:37,285 --> 00:26:40,288
possessed an incredible
force of character
239
00:26:40,288 --> 00:26:43,791
and left his imprint on
everything around him.
240
00:26:43,791 --> 00:26:47,295
And so, everything became
an extension of Ozu.
241
00:26:47,295 --> 00:26:49,297
In the studio, for instance,
242
00:26:49,797 --> 00:26:53,801
he not only concerned himself with the
sets and decorations in general,
243
00:26:54,302 --> 00:26:57,805
but with every detail and
every little thing.
244
00:26:57,805 --> 00:26:59,307
He positioned every cushion
245
00:26:59,807 --> 00:27:02,810
and put every single object
in its place.
246
00:27:02,810 --> 00:27:05,771
Nothing was left to chance.
247
00:27:06,314 --> 00:27:11,819
He would even straighten out the actors'
costumes just before a take.
248
00:27:11,819 --> 00:27:15,323
And there's nothing wrong with
that, Ryu concluded,
249
00:27:15,323 --> 00:27:18,284
when someone is so sure
of what he wants.
250
00:27:36,844 --> 00:27:41,807
[Wenders] Ryu said that under Ozu,
he learned to forget himself,
251
00:27:41,807 --> 00:27:45,353
to become an empty page.
252
00:27:45,353 --> 00:27:47,855
He thought about nothing
but his work,
253
00:27:47,855 --> 00:27:52,860
and that meant, above all, to never have
a fixed notion about this work.
254
00:27:52,860 --> 00:27:55,363
On the contrary.
255
00:27:55,363 --> 00:27:59,867
How to come as close as possible
to the Ozu idea,
256
00:27:59,867 --> 00:28:04,872
how to move in harmony with the
master's instructions.
257
00:28:04,872 --> 00:28:07,875
His thoughts had revolved
constantly around this,
258
00:28:07,875 --> 00:28:10,378
and this had been his preparation.
259
00:28:28,896 --> 00:28:30,398
[Wenders] Other films or actors
260
00:28:30,398 --> 00:28:33,901
hadn't influenced him,
explained Ryu.
261
00:28:34,402 --> 00:28:39,407
He had only tried to become but one
color upon Ozu's palette.
262
00:28:39,407 --> 00:28:42,910
The luckiest day of his life
was when Ozu chose him,
263
00:28:42,910 --> 00:28:47,415
him of all people, from
among all the others.
264
00:28:47,415 --> 00:28:51,919
Otherwise his life certainly would
have taken a different turn.
265
00:28:52,420 --> 00:28:55,423
Ozu had given him a role and
had taught him things,
266
00:28:55,423 --> 00:28:57,925
now and then, with gentle pressure
267
00:28:58,426 --> 00:29:01,429
which he never would have
learned otherwise.
268
00:29:01,429 --> 00:29:05,433
He started out a nobody,
and thanks to Ozu,
269
00:29:05,850 --> 00:29:08,436
he became someone with
the name of Ryu.
270
00:29:08,894 --> 00:29:11,439
Ozu made him what he was.
271
00:29:11,439 --> 00:29:15,443
There was simply no other way
for him to think of it.
272
00:29:53,481 --> 00:29:55,483
[Wenders] The women had
recognized Chishu Ryu
273
00:29:55,483 --> 00:29:59,403
because he had recently appeared in
a popular television series.
274
00:29:59,403 --> 00:30:03,282
Nowadays, no one would still
recognize him
275
00:30:03,282 --> 00:30:06,827
from his roles in the Ozu films,
he later told me,
276
00:30:06,827 --> 00:30:08,746
as if apologizing.
277
00:30:08,746 --> 00:30:13,584
We took the train to the nearby cemetery
where Ozu is buried:
278
00:30:13,584 --> 00:30:16,462
Kita-Kamakura.
279
00:30:16,462 --> 00:30:20,257
The train station appears in
one of his own films.
280
00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:45,343
[Wenders] Ozu's gravestone
bears no name,
281
00:31:45,343 --> 00:31:48,804
only an old Chinese character, MU,
282
00:31:49,305 --> 00:31:53,184
which means: Emptiness, nothingness.
283
00:32:03,027 --> 00:32:06,030
[Wenders] I thought about this symbol
on the ride back in the train.
284
00:32:06,530 --> 00:32:08,032
Nothingness.
285
00:32:08,032 --> 00:32:11,535
As a child, I'd often tried
to imagine nothingness.
286
00:32:12,036 --> 00:32:14,038
The idea of it had filled
me with fear.
287
00:32:14,038 --> 00:32:19,043
"Nothing simply cannot exist",
I'd always told myself.
288
00:32:19,043 --> 00:32:23,005
"Only what's there can exist,
what's real.
289
00:32:23,005 --> 00:32:25,049
Reality."
290
00:32:25,549 --> 00:32:31,055
Hardly any other notion is more empty and
useless when applied to the cinema.
291
00:32:31,055 --> 00:32:33,557
Each person knows for himself
292
00:32:33,557 --> 00:32:37,561
what is meant by the perception
of reality.
293
00:32:38,062 --> 00:32:41,983
Each person sees his reality
with his own eyes.
294
00:32:41,983 --> 00:32:45,528
One sees the others above all
the people one loves.
295
00:32:45,528 --> 00:32:48,572
One sees the object surrounding
himself,
296
00:32:48,572 --> 00:32:52,076
sees the cities and countrysides
in which one lives.
297
00:32:52,076 --> 00:32:55,079
One also sees death,
man's mortality
298
00:32:55,079 --> 00:32:57,581
and the transitoriness of objects.
299
00:32:57,581 --> 00:33:02,586
One sees and experiences love,
loneliness, happiness,
300
00:33:02,586 --> 00:33:04,588
sadness, fear.
301
00:33:04,588 --> 00:33:10,594
In short, each person sees
for himself: Life.
302
00:33:10,594 --> 00:33:14,098
And each person knows for himself
the extreme gap
303
00:33:14,098 --> 00:33:17,101
that often exists between
personal experience
304
00:33:17,602 --> 00:33:21,606
and the depiction of that experience
up there on the screen.
305
00:33:21,606 --> 00:33:24,108
We have learned to consider
the vast distance
306
00:33:24,108 --> 00:33:27,069
separating cinema from life
as so perfectly natural
307
00:33:27,069 --> 00:33:30,114
that we gasp and give a start
308
00:33:30,615 --> 00:33:34,118
when we suddenly discover something
true or real in a movie,
309
00:33:34,118 --> 00:33:39,123
be it nothing more than the gesture
of a child in the background,
310
00:33:39,123 --> 00:33:42,126
or a bird flying across the frame,
311
00:33:42,126 --> 00:33:46,505
or a cloud casting its shadow over
the scene for but an instant.
312
00:33:47,131 --> 00:33:52,136
It is a rarity in today's cinema to
find such moments of truth.
313
00:33:52,136 --> 00:33:57,141
For people are objects to show
themselves as they really are.
314
00:33:57,141 --> 00:34:00,144
That's what was so unique
in Ozu's films,
315
00:34:00,144 --> 00:34:02,647
and above all, in his later ones.
316
00:34:02,647 --> 00:34:05,650
There were such moments of truth.
317
00:34:05,650 --> 00:34:07,485
No, not just moments.
318
00:34:07,485 --> 00:34:11,614
Long-range truth lasting from the
first image to the last.
319
00:34:12,156 --> 00:34:18,162
Films which actually and continuously
dealt with life itself,
320
00:34:18,162 --> 00:34:20,665
and in which the people,
the objects,
321
00:34:20,665 --> 00:34:24,669
the cities, and the countrysides
revealed themselves.
322
00:34:25,169 --> 00:34:28,673
Such a depiction of reality,
such an art,
323
00:34:28,673 --> 00:34:31,175
is no longer to be found
in the cinema.
324
00:34:31,175 --> 00:34:34,178
It was once.
325
00:34:34,178 --> 00:34:36,681
MU: Nothingness...
326
00:34:36,681 --> 00:34:38,975
what remains today.
327
00:34:42,478 --> 00:34:47,483
Back in Tokyo, the Pachinko parlors
were already closed.
328
00:34:47,483 --> 00:34:52,280
Only the Kogichi, the "nail men",
were still at work.
329
00:35:12,300 --> 00:35:16,304
[Wenders] Tomorrow, all the balls
would run a different course,
330
00:35:16,304 --> 00:35:18,806
and a machine which could still have
made you a winner today
331
00:35:18,806 --> 00:35:22,810
would only make you a desperate
loser tomorrow.
332
00:35:49,587 --> 00:35:51,088
[Wenders] Shinjuku.
333
00:35:51,088 --> 00:35:54,592
A section of Tokyo with one
bar after another.
334
00:35:54,592 --> 00:35:57,345
In Ozu's films, many such
alleys appear
335
00:35:57,345 --> 00:36:01,349
in which his abandoned or lonely
fathers drown their sorrows.
336
00:36:01,349 --> 00:36:05,353
I set up my camera and filmed
like I always do.
337
00:36:05,353 --> 00:36:08,898
And then a second time.
338
00:36:08,898 --> 00:36:12,401
The same alley, the same
camera position,
339
00:36:12,401 --> 00:36:14,403
but using another focal length:
340
00:36:14,403 --> 00:36:19,408
the 50 millimeter, a lens with a
very slight telephoto effect,
341
00:36:19,408 --> 00:36:24,413
the one Ozu always used for
each and every shot.
342
00:36:24,413 --> 00:36:26,916
Another image presented itself,
343
00:36:26,916 --> 00:36:30,419
one that no longer belonged to me.
344
00:38:18,110 --> 00:38:20,529
[ravens caw]
345
00:38:22,531 --> 00:38:25,034
[Wenders] At the cemetery
the next morning,
346
00:38:25,034 --> 00:38:27,536
the same invisible ravens cawed
347
00:38:27,536 --> 00:38:30,498
and the children played baseball.
348
00:38:30,915 --> 00:38:33,960
And up on the roofs of the
skyscrapers downtown,
349
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:36,003
the adults played golf,
350
00:38:36,003 --> 00:38:39,507
a sport to which the Japanese
have become addicted,
351
00:38:40,007 --> 00:38:44,512
even if only very few ever get the chance
to play on a real golf course.
352
00:39:04,407 --> 00:39:05,908
[Wenders] In some of Ozu's films,
353
00:39:06,409 --> 00:39:10,788
the enthusiasm for this sport
is depicted ironically.
354
00:39:10,788 --> 00:39:13,207
Nevertheless, I was amazed
by the degree
355
00:39:13,207 --> 00:39:16,794
to which it was practiced
here as pure form,
356
00:39:16,794 --> 00:39:21,340
as beauty and perfection of motion.
357
00:39:21,340 --> 00:39:24,802
The real aim of the game, to
get the ball into a hole,
358
00:39:24,802 --> 00:39:28,180
seemed totally abandoned.
359
00:39:28,180 --> 00:39:33,728
I only found a last single solitary
defender of this idea.
360
00:41:04,777 --> 00:41:06,821
[man speaking Japanese
over P.A. system]
361
00:41:51,741 --> 00:41:53,743
[speaking Japanese]
362
00:42:25,608 --> 00:42:28,527
[Wenders] I only left the huge
and rattling golf stadium
363
00:42:28,819 --> 00:42:31,948
to grab a quick bite to eat.
364
00:42:31,948 --> 00:42:34,867
As always, you could see all
the foods from outside
365
00:42:34,867 --> 00:42:38,871
in the showcase of the restaurant.
366
00:42:38,871 --> 00:42:41,374
Then I headed back to the stadium,
367
00:42:41,374 --> 00:42:43,376
now inundated with floodlight.
368
00:43:57,283 --> 00:43:59,285
[chatter in Japanese]
369
00:44:23,476 --> 00:44:25,603
[Wenders] In the clubhouse
later that evening,
370
00:44:26,103 --> 00:44:27,605
the day came full circle,
371
00:44:27,605 --> 00:44:29,607
ending with images of baseball.
372
00:44:31,067 --> 00:44:33,069
And since the same imitation food
373
00:44:33,069 --> 00:44:35,071
was on display here as well,
374
00:44:35,071 --> 00:44:37,073
I decided to pay a visit
the next day
375
00:44:37,073 --> 00:44:38,574
to one of the places
376
00:44:38,574 --> 00:44:42,536
where these utterly realistic-looking
things were produced.
377
00:45:26,914 --> 00:45:29,417
[Wenders] It all starts
with real food...
378
00:45:29,917 --> 00:45:31,419
over which a gelatinous mass
379
00:45:31,419 --> 00:45:33,421
is poured and then cooled.
380
00:45:42,430 --> 00:45:44,932
The finished molds that result
381
00:45:44,932 --> 00:45:46,434
are filled with wax,
382
00:45:46,434 --> 00:45:47,935
and then these wax forms
383
00:45:47,935 --> 00:45:50,938
are trimmed, painted, and
worked on further.
384
00:46:06,954 --> 00:46:09,457
The wax must be kept warm
all the while.
385
00:46:09,957 --> 00:46:13,169
Other than that, the preparation
of the wax sandwich
386
00:46:13,169 --> 00:46:16,130
is not at all unlike the preparation
of the real one.
387
00:48:56,082 --> 00:48:58,584
[spraying]
388
00:50:55,034 --> 00:50:57,787
[Wenders] I stayed there
the entire day.
389
00:50:57,787 --> 00:50:59,747
The only time I wasn't
allowed to film
390
00:50:59,747 --> 00:51:03,250
was during the lunch break,
which was a shame.
391
00:51:03,250 --> 00:51:06,128
All the employees sat amidst
their wax creations
392
00:51:06,128 --> 00:51:08,130
and ate the food they had brought,
393
00:51:08,130 --> 00:51:12,093
which looked exactly like the imitations
all around them.
394
00:51:12,093 --> 00:51:14,553
You could almost imagine one of them
395
00:51:14,553 --> 00:51:16,931
biting into a wax roll by mistake.
396
00:51:32,488 --> 00:51:34,282
[sizzling]
397
00:52:07,773 --> 00:52:09,567
[jazz saxophone]
398
00:53:29,021 --> 00:53:31,107
[Wenders] On top of
the Tokyo Tower,
399
00:53:31,107 --> 00:53:33,859
I met with a friend of mine -
Werner Herzog -
400
00:53:34,151 --> 00:53:36,237
who was stopping over in
Japan for a few days
401
00:53:36,696 --> 00:53:37,655
on his way to Australia.
402
00:53:38,239 --> 00:53:39,240
We talked.
403
00:53:40,074 --> 00:53:44,662
These days there are simply
not many images left.
404
00:53:45,579 --> 00:53:49,375
If you look around here, it's almost
entirely just buildings,
405
00:53:49,375 --> 00:53:52,420
images almost aren't possible anymore.
406
00:53:53,421 --> 00:53:57,008
Therefore one has to dig like an
archeologist with a shovel...
407
00:54:00,469 --> 00:54:06,726
to see if there's still anything left to
find in this offended landscape.
408
00:54:07,602 --> 00:54:11,439
Very often it of course comes
to taking risks,
409
00:54:11,439 --> 00:54:13,107
and I would never shy away from those.
410
00:54:13,107 --> 00:54:16,944
And I see nowadays there are not
many people in this world
411
00:54:16,944 --> 00:54:23,909
who would dare to really do something
for this need that we have...
412
00:54:23,909 --> 00:54:27,705
...namely we don't have enough adequate
images. We desperately need images
413
00:54:27,830 --> 00:54:33,711
which are in harmony with the state of our
civilization and our inner selves.
414
00:54:34,712 --> 00:54:35,671
And...
415
00:54:36,631 --> 00:54:42,386
then one has to go into the middle of a
war, or whereever it is necessary.
416
00:54:44,972 --> 00:54:48,809
And I would never complain that
it's, for example, sometimes hard...
417
00:54:48,809 --> 00:54:52,813
that, let's say, one has to climb
8000 meter up a mountain
418
00:54:52,813 --> 00:54:57,860
to get images which are pure,
clear and transparent...
419
00:54:58,069 --> 00:55:00,071
because you can't find that here anymore.
420
00:55:01,322 --> 00:55:03,532
So one really has to search.
421
00:55:03,532 --> 00:55:08,871
I would also fly to Mars or Saturn with the
next space shuttle I could hop on.
422
00:55:08,871 --> 00:55:12,458
For example, NASA has a program
423
00:55:12,458 --> 00:55:16,545
with this SKYLAB, errr... space shuttle
424
00:55:17,004 --> 00:55:19,632
where they sometimes maybe take
biologists with them,
425
00:55:19,632 --> 00:55:23,970
and people who are testing new
technology in space.
426
00:55:23,970 --> 00:55:27,014
I would very much like to join
them with a film camera.
427
00:55:27,139 --> 00:55:35,523
Because it's not easy anymore to find on this Earth
the thing that makes the transparency of images
428
00:55:35,898 --> 00:55:38,192
...that which once was.
429
00:55:40,861 --> 00:55:43,614
I would go anywhere.
430
00:55:45,199 --> 00:55:47,785
[Wenders] No matter how much I
understood Werner's quest
431
00:55:47,785 --> 00:55:49,787
for transparent and pure images,
432
00:55:50,246 --> 00:55:51,789
the images I was searching for
433
00:55:51,789 --> 00:55:53,791
were only to be found down here,
434
00:55:53,791 --> 00:55:56,294
below, in the chaos of the city.
435
00:55:56,294 --> 00:55:57,795
In spite of everything,
436
00:55:58,296 --> 00:56:01,799
I couldn't help being
impressed by Tokyo.
437
00:56:01,799 --> 00:56:05,386
That afternoon, I went to the
newly opened Disneyland
438
00:56:05,386 --> 00:56:07,847
just outside the city gates.
439
00:56:07,847 --> 00:56:10,391
But the sobering thought of
seeing an exact copy
440
00:56:10,391 --> 00:56:13,394
of the park in California
made me reconsider,
441
00:56:13,394 --> 00:56:14,854
and I made a U-turn.
442
00:56:14,854 --> 00:56:18,190
Moreover, it was pouring with rain.
443
00:56:18,190 --> 00:56:20,192
I didn't regret my decision,
though,
444
00:56:20,693 --> 00:56:22,194
because in one of the
city's parks
445
00:56:22,695 --> 00:56:25,489
I ran into some people who refused
to let a little rain
446
00:56:25,990 --> 00:56:28,326
stop them from being an American.
447
00:56:28,576 --> 00:56:29,160
# Rock 'n' roll #
448
00:56:29,660 --> 00:56:30,161
# Gonna rock, gonna rock #
449
00:56:30,661 --> 00:56:32,663
# Around the clock tonight #
450
00:56:32,663 --> 00:56:35,124
[rock]
451
00:56:37,960 --> 00:56:39,295
# Well, tutti fruiti #
452
00:56:39,295 --> 00:56:40,296
# Aw rootie #
453
00:56:40,838 --> 00:56:41,672
# Tutti fruiti #
454
00:56:41,672 --> 00:56:42,548
# Aw rootie #
455
00:56:42,548 --> 00:56:43,507
# Tutti fruiti #
456
00:56:43,507 --> 00:56:44,550
# Aw rootie #
457
00:56:44,550 --> 00:56:45,551
# Tutti fruiti #
458
00:56:45,551 --> 00:56:47,345
# Aw rootie #
459
00:56:47,345 --> 00:56:49,555
[Runaway playing]
460
00:57:10,409 --> 00:57:13,204
[Elvis Presley's Don't be Cruel]
461
00:57:16,207 --> 00:57:19,043
# Don't want no other lover #
462
00:57:19,043 --> 00:57:24,715
# Baby, it's just you
I'm thinking of #
463
00:57:24,715 --> 00:57:25,925
[rock] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
464
00:57:29,512 --> 00:57:32,014
[screaming]
465
00:57:42,024 --> 00:57:43,526
[girls scream]
466
00:57:49,532 --> 00:57:50,533
[girl screams]
467
00:57:50,533 --> 00:57:54,537
[screaming]
468
00:57:54,537 --> 00:57:56,539
[Johnny B. Goode playing]
469
00:58:01,794 --> 00:58:03,796
# Who never ever learned to
read and write so well #
470
00:58:03,796 --> 00:58:06,299
# But he could play a guitar just
like ringin' a bell #
471
00:58:06,299 --> 00:58:07,800
# Go, go #
472
00:58:07,800 --> 00:58:09,593
# Go, Johnny, go, go #
473
00:58:09,593 --> 00:58:11,929
[Call Me playing]
474
00:58:11,929 --> 00:58:12,930
[whistle blows]
475
00:58:14,932 --> 00:58:15,933
[whistle blows]
476
00:58:18,436 --> 00:58:19,437
[whistle blows]
477
00:58:21,439 --> 00:58:22,440
[whistle blows]
478
00:58:22,940 --> 00:58:25,943
# Color me your color, baby #
479
00:58:25,943 --> 00:58:27,945
# Color me your car #
480
00:58:28,446 --> 00:58:29,655
[blows whistle]
481
00:58:29,655 --> 00:58:31,490
[Peppermint Twist playing]
482
00:58:31,949 --> 00:58:34,952
# Yeah, the name of this dance
is the Peppermint Twist #
483
00:58:36,954 --> 00:58:39,957
# You like it like this,
the Peppermint Twist #
484
00:58:41,959 --> 00:58:45,963
# It goes 'round and 'round
up and down #
485
00:58:45,963 --> 00:58:47,506
# Summer #
486
00:58:47,965 --> 00:58:50,509
# We're on safari to stay #
487
00:58:50,968 --> 00:58:53,512
# Tell the teacher we're surfin' #
488
00:58:53,971 --> 00:58:56,515
# Surfin' USA #
489
00:58:56,515 --> 00:58:57,975
# At Haggarty's and Swami's #
490
00:58:57,975 --> 00:58:58,976
# Inside, outside, USA #
491
00:58:59,518 --> 00:59:00,811
# Pacific Palisades #
492
00:59:00,811 --> 00:59:02,605
[rock, fast beat]
493
00:59:27,004 --> 00:59:29,966
[rock]
494
00:59:44,981 --> 00:59:47,441
[At the Hop playing]
495
01:01:30,461 --> 01:01:33,297
[moody jazz]
496
01:02:10,293 --> 01:02:12,378
[electronic gunshots]
497
01:02:12,378 --> 01:02:14,380
[explosions, gunshots]
498
01:02:16,340 --> 01:02:19,218
[electronic beeping]
499
01:02:38,237 --> 01:02:41,240
[electronic reverberations]
500
01:02:48,873 --> 01:02:50,708
[moody jazz]
501
01:02:58,716 --> 01:03:01,177
[Wenders] That night, I met
the French filmmaker
502
01:03:01,677 --> 01:03:04,180
and cat lover Chris Marker
503
01:03:04,180 --> 01:03:06,432
in a bar in Shinjuku...
504
01:03:06,432 --> 01:03:10,853
a bar bearing the name of one
of his films - La Jetee.
505
01:03:10,853 --> 01:03:13,856
Only in the coming days was
I to see his new film:
506
01:03:13,856 --> 01:03:16,275
the beautiful Sans Soleil,
507
01:03:16,817 --> 01:03:18,819
in which there are images of Tokyo
508
01:03:19,278 --> 01:03:22,823
inaccessible to the camera of
a foreigner like me.
509
01:03:23,824 --> 01:03:25,826
Like so many photographers,
510
01:03:25,826 --> 01:03:28,287
Chris Marker doesn't like
to be photographed.
511
01:03:28,704 --> 01:03:31,248
But tonight, he did risk
512
01:03:31,248 --> 01:03:33,250
showing an eye after all.
513
01:03:35,586 --> 01:03:37,463
[moody jazz]
514
01:04:34,687 --> 01:04:36,188
[Wenders] The trains.
515
01:04:37,690 --> 01:04:38,691
The trains.
516
01:04:39,191 --> 01:04:42,194
All the trains in Ozu's films.
517
01:04:42,194 --> 01:04:43,696
Not a single film
518
01:04:43,696 --> 01:04:46,198
in which there isn't at
least one train.
519
01:05:20,232 --> 01:05:22,610
[train passes loudly]
520
01:05:32,495 --> 01:05:35,373
[train roars]
521
01:06:01,857 --> 01:06:03,401
[train approaching]
522
01:06:08,948 --> 01:06:10,408
[loud chugging]
523
01:06:18,416 --> 01:06:19,959
[noise recedes]
524
01:06:30,344 --> 01:06:33,848
[Wenders] Yuuhara Atsuta was the
second camera assistant
525
01:06:33,848 --> 01:06:36,350
on Ozu's early silent films,
526
01:06:36,350 --> 01:06:38,352
later his longtime first assistant,
527
01:06:38,352 --> 01:06:40,855
and finally, for almost 20 years,
528
01:06:41,355 --> 01:06:42,356
Ozu's cameraman.
529
01:06:43,858 --> 01:06:47,361
He showed me how Ozu worked
in an interior set.
530
01:06:47,361 --> 01:06:49,864
We were able to get hold
of an old Mitchell,
531
01:06:49,864 --> 01:06:53,367
the very same one Atsuta and Ozu
had actually used
532
01:06:53,367 --> 01:06:55,369
to shoot their last films.
533
01:06:59,373 --> 01:07:02,376
Over the years, Yasujiro Ozu
had simplified
534
01:07:02,877 --> 01:07:05,379
more and more his visual means
of expression.
535
01:07:06,881 --> 01:07:08,382
Whereas in the early films
536
01:07:08,883 --> 01:07:11,886
there are still occasional
tracking shots and pans,
537
01:07:11,886 --> 01:07:14,388
he gradually eliminated even these
538
01:07:14,388 --> 01:07:18,392
until finally he shot only
with a fixed camera
539
01:07:18,392 --> 01:07:19,894
always set at the eye level
540
01:07:19,894 --> 01:07:21,812
of someone seated on the floor
541
01:07:21,812 --> 01:07:24,398
and always fitted with
the same lens...
542
01:07:24,899 --> 01:07:25,399
[speaking Japanese]
543
01:07:25,900 --> 01:07:27,151
...the 50 millimeter.
544
01:07:27,944 --> 01:07:29,946
[speaking Japanese]
545
01:07:31,948 --> 01:07:34,450
"This set-up here was the
standard position
546
01:07:34,951 --> 01:07:37,453
used for a long or medium-long shot",
547
01:07:37,453 --> 01:07:38,412
explained Atsuta.
548
01:07:41,958 --> 01:07:43,960
"For a close-up or medium-close-up,
549
01:07:43,960 --> 01:07:46,462
"the camera position was
always raised.
550
01:07:46,462 --> 01:07:48,464
"The reason for this was
that Ozu wanted
551
01:07:48,464 --> 01:07:51,467
"to avoid image distortion which
would've occurred
552
01:07:51,467 --> 01:07:53,427
"if the camera were kept in
the lower position
553
01:07:53,970 --> 01:07:56,472
"and tilted upwards for
the close-up.
554
01:07:56,472 --> 01:07:59,976
"That's why the camera was always
elevated for close-ups,
555
01:07:59,976 --> 01:08:01,477
even if only slightly."
556
01:08:45,479 --> 01:08:48,482
[Wenders] "This was the camera support
designed by Ozu himself",
557
01:08:48,482 --> 01:08:50,484
Atsuta told me,
558
01:08:50,985 --> 01:08:53,988
"in order to achieve the camera position
for exterior shots,
559
01:08:53,988 --> 01:08:55,990
"even lower than the one permitted
560
01:08:55,990 --> 01:08:57,491
by the usual triplex."
561
01:09:08,753 --> 01:09:12,256
"The shortest available tripod
came up to here.
562
01:09:12,757 --> 01:09:15,259
"But Ozu wanted to have the
camera even lower,
563
01:09:15,259 --> 01:09:17,261
"which meant that as a cameraman
564
01:09:17,261 --> 01:09:20,765
"I had to lie on the floor to look
through the viewfinder.
565
01:09:20,765 --> 01:09:22,266
"Then it was advantageous
566
01:09:22,266 --> 01:09:24,268
that we almost never
did any panning."
567
01:10:18,698 --> 01:10:20,700
[Wenders] "When Ozu wanted
to set up a shot
568
01:10:20,700 --> 01:10:22,702
"and the assistants had
positioned the camera
569
01:10:23,244 --> 01:10:25,246
"according to his instructions,
570
01:10:25,246 --> 01:10:26,205
"Ozu looked through the camera
571
01:10:26,706 --> 01:10:29,250
"and very carefully decided
on the framing.
572
01:10:29,709 --> 01:10:31,252
"Then he said, 'That's it',
573
01:10:31,711 --> 01:10:35,715
"and the assistants fixed the camera
in this position.
574
01:10:36,257 --> 01:10:40,261
"Once set, nobody was allowed
to touch the camera.
575
01:10:40,678 --> 01:10:42,221
This was an iron-clad rule."
576
01:10:53,733 --> 01:10:57,278
"Then, during the first
few rehearsals,
577
01:10:57,278 --> 01:10:59,739
"Ozu again looked through
the viewfinder,
578
01:10:59,739 --> 01:11:02,283
directed the actors, and gave
them their positions."
579
01:11:03,284 --> 01:11:05,244
"After making final adjustments,
580
01:11:05,244 --> 01:11:09,248
"the camera was secured
once and for all.
581
01:11:09,248 --> 01:11:11,250
"And now was the time when
everyone had to be
582
01:11:11,709 --> 01:11:14,712
"really careful not
to bump into it
583
01:11:14,712 --> 01:11:17,715
"and upset the positioning
of the shot.
584
01:11:17,715 --> 01:11:19,717
We were really nervous
around the camera."
585
01:11:32,730 --> 01:11:35,274
Atsuta continued:
586
01:11:35,274 --> 01:11:38,611
"Ozu didn't like shooting exterior
shots on location,
587
01:11:38,611 --> 01:11:42,490
"especially when a crowd of
spectators gathered.
588
01:11:42,490 --> 01:11:46,077
"That's why we always did the exterior
shots as fast as we could,
589
01:11:46,577 --> 01:11:48,913
or, if possible, avoided
them altogether."
590
01:12:12,311 --> 01:12:14,313
"Ozu gave me his stopwatch..."
591
01:12:15,314 --> 01:12:16,774
"...as a keepsake.
592
01:12:17,316 --> 01:12:19,235
"I'd like to show it
to you later.
593
01:12:19,235 --> 01:12:21,737
It's the only remembrance
I have of him."
594
01:12:26,158 --> 01:12:28,286
"The script girl always
started her watch
595
01:12:28,286 --> 01:12:30,746
"along with Ozu.
596
01:12:30,746 --> 01:12:33,791
"And since we were filming
with sound,
597
01:12:34,292 --> 01:12:35,793
"you could hear the two clicks.
598
01:12:36,294 --> 01:12:40,798
"And every time, the sound engineer
would listen and say,
599
01:12:40,798 --> 01:12:44,802
"'What on earth was that noise?'
600
01:12:44,802 --> 01:12:46,804
"Ozu considered it important
601
01:12:46,804 --> 01:12:50,308
"to time things as accurately
as possible.
602
01:12:50,308 --> 01:12:52,310
"Each take was timed,
603
01:12:52,310 --> 01:12:54,562
"and when we watched the rushes,
604
01:12:54,562 --> 01:12:56,564
the time was taken once again."
605
01:13:12,747 --> 01:13:15,750
"I always used these childish things.
606
01:13:15,750 --> 01:13:18,753
"Isn't that a bit embarrassing?
607
01:13:18,753 --> 01:13:20,755
"I was always running around
with a mat like this
608
01:13:21,255 --> 01:13:21,714
under my arm."
609
01:13:22,256 --> 01:13:22,715
[laughs]
610
01:13:23,257 --> 01:13:24,717
"It really was a hell of a job."
611
01:13:37,605 --> 01:13:39,190
[speaking Japanese]
612
01:13:56,207 --> 01:13:57,708
[Wenders] "This is the stopwatch
613
01:13:57,708 --> 01:14:00,211
"which Ozu had specially built.
614
01:14:00,211 --> 01:14:03,214
"He used it all through the years.
615
01:14:03,214 --> 01:14:05,716
"With this watch, he
recorded the times
616
01:14:05,716 --> 01:14:08,219
for every scene, including inserts."
617
01:14:09,720 --> 01:14:12,223
"The red line shows how much
film stock has been shot
618
01:14:12,723 --> 01:14:15,226
"in the standard 35 millimeter format.
619
01:14:15,226 --> 01:14:17,728
"The middle line gives the seconds.
620
01:14:17,728 --> 01:14:20,231
"And the third one here indicates
the footage
621
01:14:20,231 --> 01:14:21,732
for the 60-millimeter format."
622
01:14:24,193 --> 01:14:26,696
"This stopwatch was important for Ozu
623
01:14:26,696 --> 01:14:29,240
"in order to precisely measure time
624
01:14:29,240 --> 01:14:31,742
"in seconds and in frames.
625
01:14:31,742 --> 01:14:33,744
I wanted you to see it."
626
01:15:08,195 --> 01:15:11,699
Atsuta loaned me the original of
one of Ozu's screenplays
627
01:15:11,699 --> 01:15:13,701
for a few days.
628
01:15:13,701 --> 01:15:17,705
I leafed through it, reverent
and helpless.
629
01:15:17,705 --> 01:15:20,207
I couldn't decipher a single word...
630
01:15:20,207 --> 01:15:21,709
not even the title.
631
01:15:45,441 --> 01:15:49,487
[indistinct chatter]
632
01:15:49,487 --> 01:15:51,489
[Wenders] How long were you
his assistant?
633
01:15:51,489 --> 01:15:53,866
[Interpreter speaking Japanese]
634
01:15:55,242 --> 01:15:57,745
"From the beginning
to the end.
635
01:15:58,245 --> 01:16:00,247
His camera assistant
for 15 years."
636
01:16:04,251 --> 01:16:05,753
[Interpreter speaking Japanese]
637
01:16:08,255 --> 01:16:10,424
[Wenders] And then you became
Ozu's cameraman?
638
01:16:10,424 --> 01:16:11,425
"Yes."
639
01:16:11,425 --> 01:16:13,928
[Interpreter speaking Japanese]
640
01:16:13,928 --> 01:16:15,262
[Wenders] How did that come about?
641
01:16:15,596 --> 01:16:17,056
[speaking Japanese]
642
01:16:20,685 --> 01:16:22,687
"Very simply. He said,
643
01:16:23,187 --> 01:16:27,441
"'From now on, this is
your job. Okay?'
644
01:16:27,441 --> 01:16:29,402
"He was a man of few words.
645
01:16:29,402 --> 01:16:30,945
[Atsuta speaking Japanese]
646
01:16:30,945 --> 01:16:32,780
"I just said, 'Thank you.'"
647
01:16:32,780 --> 01:16:34,782
[speaking Japanese]
648
01:16:36,284 --> 01:16:39,745
"And my gratitude to Ozu continues
to this very day."
649
01:16:50,298 --> 01:16:52,800
"I was the caretaker of the camera...
650
01:16:52,800 --> 01:16:55,261
"and that's not meant as
false modesty.
651
01:16:55,803 --> 01:16:58,764
I was proud to be the caretaker
of Ozu's camera."
652
01:16:59,265 --> 01:17:01,767
[Atsuta speaking Japanese]
653
01:17:01,767 --> 01:17:05,229
"All the more so because already
as an assistant,
654
01:17:05,730 --> 01:17:07,690
"I had come to know and admire him.
655
01:17:07,690 --> 01:17:10,234
"At that time, all the other
assistants
656
01:17:10,234 --> 01:17:12,236
"had long become cameramen...
657
01:17:12,236 --> 01:17:15,740
"and I was still nothing but the
assistant on Ozu's crew.
658
01:17:15,740 --> 01:17:17,742
"One day, he said to me,
659
01:17:18,242 --> 01:17:20,745
"'Since you are going to be a
cameraman sooner or later,
660
01:17:20,745 --> 01:17:22,747
"'why don't you be patient
661
01:17:22,747 --> 01:17:25,249
and become the dog of a big house?'"
662
01:17:27,752 --> 01:17:29,754
"I appreciated his work.
663
01:17:30,254 --> 01:17:32,757
"Many of my colleagues were
making more money.
664
01:17:32,757 --> 01:17:34,717
"Above all, the newsreel cameramen
665
01:17:34,717 --> 01:17:36,636
"were very well paid.
666
01:17:36,636 --> 01:17:38,638
"But I stayed where I was.
667
01:17:39,096 --> 01:17:42,099
"I wanted to remain at Ozu's side.
668
01:17:42,642 --> 01:17:43,643
That was my view."
669
01:17:48,898 --> 01:17:50,900
[Wenders] Did you discuss
much with Ozu
670
01:17:50,900 --> 01:17:53,903
before you began shooting a film?
671
01:17:53,903 --> 01:17:57,907
"No. I wouldn't say we
had discussions.
672
01:17:57,907 --> 01:18:00,910
"We simply talked together
like always,
673
01:18:00,910 --> 01:18:03,412
"and also not at any great length.
674
01:18:03,412 --> 01:18:06,415
"Anyway, I had little to say to him
675
01:18:06,415 --> 01:18:09,377
"and nothing as regards direction.
676
01:18:09,377 --> 01:18:11,963
"At most, I would ask him things like,
677
01:18:11,963 --> 01:18:14,465
"'What period of time is
covered in the film?
678
01:18:14,465 --> 01:18:18,594
"'A few weeks? A few months? A year?'
679
01:18:18,594 --> 01:18:22,098
"And that only because of the lighting,
680
01:18:22,098 --> 01:18:26,102
"in order to get an idea
of the seasons.
681
01:18:26,102 --> 01:18:29,605
"Ever since the days when
Ogawa showed his films,
682
01:18:29,605 --> 01:18:33,609
"he never used any lens other
than the 50 millimeter.
683
01:18:33,609 --> 01:18:35,611
"I remember him often saying,
684
01:18:35,611 --> 01:18:38,614
"'Ogawa, why do you keep suggesting
685
01:18:38,614 --> 01:18:40,116
"'the 40 millimeter?
686
01:18:40,116 --> 01:18:43,619
"You know very well I like
the 50 better.'
687
01:18:43,619 --> 01:18:46,080
"Later, I myself once asked him
688
01:18:46,080 --> 01:18:48,541
"to take a look at a scene
through another lens.
689
01:18:48,541 --> 01:18:51,127
"Just once.
690
01:18:51,127 --> 01:18:54,130
"He peered through the viewfinder
and said,
691
01:18:54,130 --> 01:18:57,091
'Just as I thought - not as good
as the 50.'"
692
01:18:59,635 --> 01:19:02,638
"So I put the good old 50 right
back on the camera,
693
01:19:02,638 --> 01:19:04,640
"gnashing my teeth a bit.
694
01:19:04,640 --> 01:19:06,142
"And from that day on,
695
01:19:06,142 --> 01:19:09,645
I, too, never again questioned
the 50 millimeter."
696
01:19:15,651 --> 01:19:17,653
"Using a lens with a wider angle
697
01:19:17,653 --> 01:19:20,156
"increases the image field
on both sides
698
01:19:20,156 --> 01:19:23,159
"and also in terms of height.
699
01:19:23,159 --> 01:19:26,621
"But that just wasn't to Ozu's taste.
700
01:19:26,621 --> 01:19:28,664
"During the time of the silent films,
701
01:19:28,664 --> 01:19:32,168
"I mean, with the change
over to sound,
702
01:19:32,168 --> 01:19:34,629
"the width of the frame became
a bit narrower
703
01:19:34,629 --> 01:19:37,173
"because of the added soundtrack.
704
01:19:37,173 --> 01:19:40,176
"Before, you could use the entire
width of the negative,
705
01:19:40,176 --> 01:19:42,178
"but not anymore.
706
01:19:42,178 --> 01:19:45,598
I think that affected his sense
of image composition."
707
01:20:04,200 --> 01:20:06,702
"He left me in complete charge
of the lighting."
708
01:20:08,871 --> 01:20:11,290
"In the film, there was a father.
709
01:20:11,290 --> 01:20:12,875
"There's a scene near the end
710
01:20:12,875 --> 01:20:16,379
"in which the father dies.
You remember?
711
01:20:16,379 --> 01:20:17,380
"I lit the hospital room
712
01:20:17,880 --> 01:20:19,882
"so that it was extremely bright...
713
01:20:19,882 --> 01:20:22,385
"as if the sun were shining in.
714
01:20:22,385 --> 01:20:24,887
"In a place like that,
in a hospital,
715
01:20:24,887 --> 01:20:29,392
"one is filled with compassion
when it's lovely outside.
716
01:20:29,392 --> 01:20:32,895
So I had the sunlight pour in the
room with great intensity."
717
01:20:36,399 --> 01:20:38,401
"Ozu turned to me and said,
718
01:20:38,401 --> 01:20:39,902
"'What have you done?
719
01:20:39,902 --> 01:20:40,903
"'Why?
720
01:20:40,903 --> 01:20:43,406
"'That's not bad at all.'
721
01:20:43,406 --> 01:20:46,909
"And I replied, 'To be perfectly honest,
722
01:20:46,909 --> 01:20:50,913
"'I just didn't want to let the
old man die in the dark.
723
01:20:50,913 --> 01:20:52,915
"'I wanted him to be surrounded
by light
724
01:20:52,915 --> 01:20:54,417
at the moment of his death.'"
725
01:20:59,422 --> 01:21:01,424
"'We shoot it exactly like this',
726
01:21:01,424 --> 01:21:03,926
was the praise Ozu gave me."
727
01:21:06,929 --> 01:21:09,432
"In general, he never told me
728
01:21:09,432 --> 01:21:10,933
"what he thought of the shots
729
01:21:10,933 --> 01:21:13,436
"or even if he liked them.
730
01:21:13,436 --> 01:21:15,938
"I never heard Ozu say
something like,
731
01:21:15,938 --> 01:21:18,941
"'That was a good take.'
732
01:21:18,941 --> 01:21:21,611
"At the very most, a few days later
he would say,
733
01:21:21,611 --> 01:21:25,114
"'That wasn't bad at all
the other day.'
734
01:21:25,114 --> 01:21:27,116
Yes, that was typical of him."
735
01:21:27,116 --> 01:21:30,119
[Interpreter speaking Japanese]
736
01:21:31,621 --> 01:21:33,623
"Once he asked me,
737
01:21:33,623 --> 01:21:35,124
"'Do you have a girlfriend?'
738
01:21:35,124 --> 01:21:38,628
"And I said, 'Yes. She has three legs.
739
01:21:38,628 --> 01:21:42,506
"'And I always carry her around
on my back.'
740
01:21:42,506 --> 01:21:45,676
"I was talking about my tripod.
741
01:21:46,177 --> 01:21:48,679
"It became a running joke between us.
742
01:21:49,180 --> 01:21:51,182
"'Your girlfriend, the three-legged one',
743
01:21:51,682 --> 01:21:53,184
"he would tease me,
744
01:21:53,184 --> 01:21:55,686
'She's not so bad-looking.
A real cutie.'"
745
01:22:12,203 --> 01:22:14,705
"I was quite fond of him.
746
01:22:14,705 --> 01:22:18,167
"I had a special feeling for him
right up to his death,
747
01:22:18,167 --> 01:22:19,669
and Ozu knew it."
748
01:22:22,171 --> 01:22:26,676
"I know something like this might
sound a bit strange...
749
01:22:26,676 --> 01:22:30,221
"...but I'm probably the only
cameraman in the world
750
01:22:30,221 --> 01:22:32,723
"who remained with one single director
751
01:22:33,224 --> 01:22:36,227
"for such an outrageous
length of time...
752
01:22:36,227 --> 01:22:39,689
"from assistant right to the end.
753
01:22:39,689 --> 01:22:43,234
"No, I don't think anyone else
can make that claim.
754
01:22:43,734 --> 01:22:47,238
To have served Ozu... that's
my pride and joy."
755
01:23:06,257 --> 01:23:08,134
"Interior shots were always
done in a studio,
756
01:23:08,134 --> 01:23:11,220
"never on location.
757
01:23:11,220 --> 01:23:15,224
"The only exceptions were
the train shots.
758
01:23:15,224 --> 01:23:18,686
"Whenever we had to shoot
inside a train...
759
01:23:19,228 --> 01:23:22,773
I always said to Ozu, 'Anything
but the studio.'"
760
01:23:24,775 --> 01:23:25,776
"And he accepted that."
761
01:23:27,778 --> 01:23:28,904
"No matter what you do,
762
01:23:29,447 --> 01:23:32,450
a train never looks right
in the studio.
763
01:23:32,992 --> 01:23:36,454
"Everything shakes, and
in the wrong way.
764
01:23:36,454 --> 01:23:40,458
"That's why I always wanted us
to film in real trains.
765
01:23:40,458 --> 01:23:42,001
"And you can be sure
766
01:23:42,001 --> 01:23:44,462
"that in every post-war film by Ozu
767
01:23:45,004 --> 01:23:46,464
the trains are real ones."
768
01:23:54,889 --> 01:23:57,892
"We always spent a lot of time
scouting for locations.
769
01:23:57,892 --> 01:23:59,810
"But we never used a car.
770
01:24:00,186 --> 01:24:03,272
We went on foot... always on foot."
771
01:24:05,274 --> 01:24:08,778
"There was even a joke about it:
772
01:24:08,778 --> 01:24:11,822
Location scouting is over only
when you pass out."
773
01:24:12,323 --> 01:24:14,325
[Atsuta speaking Japanese
with interpreter]
774
01:24:33,302 --> 01:24:36,305
[Wenders] This will be
the last question.
775
01:24:36,305 --> 01:24:37,306
"Yes."
776
01:24:38,808 --> 01:24:40,768
Did you work with other directors
777
01:24:40,768 --> 01:24:42,311
after Ozu's death?
778
01:24:44,230 --> 01:24:45,314
"Yes, I did."
779
01:24:46,816 --> 01:24:50,319
"But I was completely miserable
on the job.
780
01:24:50,319 --> 01:24:53,322
For a long time, I felt dazed."
781
01:24:55,324 --> 01:24:56,826
"How can I explain it?"
782
01:24:58,327 --> 01:25:00,830
"I continued to work for a while,
783
01:25:00,830 --> 01:25:03,291
"but without any feeling for my work
784
01:25:03,291 --> 01:25:06,752
"or for the director I happened
to be with.
785
01:25:07,128 --> 01:25:08,087
Something was gone."
786
01:25:11,716 --> 01:25:15,136
"Ozu got the best out of me...
787
01:25:15,136 --> 01:25:18,097
"and I gave him my best.
788
01:25:18,556 --> 01:25:20,558
"With the others...
789
01:25:20,558 --> 01:25:22,560
my best was no longer there."
790
01:25:30,568 --> 01:25:31,569
[speaking tearfully]
791
01:25:37,116 --> 01:25:40,077
"I'm indebted to Ozu.
792
01:25:40,077 --> 01:25:42,121
Sometimes one feels lonely."
793
01:25:44,123 --> 01:25:45,124
"Leave me now."
794
01:25:47,585 --> 01:25:48,586
"I thank you."
795
01:25:50,129 --> 01:25:53,132
"Yes...one becomes lonely."
796
01:25:54,592 --> 01:25:57,136
"What you call 'spirit',
797
01:25:57,136 --> 01:25:59,597
that can never be explained
to anybody else..."
798
01:26:02,141 --> 01:26:05,144
"That's why...the people,
799
01:26:05,144 --> 01:26:09,607
"the people he worked with,
he cared about them.
800
01:26:10,149 --> 01:26:12,610
"He was more than a director.
801
01:26:13,152 --> 01:26:14,612
"He was like a king.
802
01:26:14,612 --> 01:26:17,156
"Now...at this moment...
803
01:26:17,156 --> 01:26:18,616
he must be pleased."
804
01:26:21,160 --> 01:26:23,162
"I'm just not myself today."
805
01:26:25,623 --> 01:26:27,625
"Please...go now
806
01:26:27,625 --> 01:26:29,168
and leave me here alone."
807
01:26:31,170 --> 01:26:32,630
"I apologize."
808
01:26:34,632 --> 01:26:38,094
"Yasujiro Ozu was a good man."
809
01:26:39,971 --> 01:26:41,931
[sobbing]
810
01:26:45,476 --> 01:26:46,978
[children singing]
811
01:26:55,945 --> 01:26:57,947
[singing continues]
812
01:28:02,345 --> 01:28:05,264
[train becomes deafening]
813
01:28:12,563 --> 01:28:14,398
[train wheels' rhythm]
814
01:28:39,340 --> 01:28:44,637
[train whistle blows]
815
01:28:44,637 --> 01:28:46,597
[whistle fades]
816
01:28:46,597 --> 01:28:49,558
[boat motor clacking]
817
01:28:51,602 --> 01:28:53,145
[clacking continues]
818
01:29:06,367 --> 01:29:10,705
You must be sad.
They all left you alone.
819
01:29:11,205 --> 01:29:14,000
It was just so sudden.
820
01:29:14,000 --> 01:29:16,002
- She was a headstrong woman,
821
01:29:17,420 --> 01:29:19,922
but if I had known that
this would happen
822
01:29:19,922 --> 01:29:24,135
I would have been kinder to
her while she was alive.
823
01:29:25,511 --> 01:29:29,265
Living alone, the days
will seem very long.
824
01:29:29,265 --> 01:29:33,144
- Lonely indeed... how sad.
825
01:29:51,078 --> 01:29:52,955
[motor clacking]
826
01:30:26,030 --> 01:30:30,034
[boat horn blows]
64023
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