"4K Restoration" is one of the most topical screening units of the Shanghai International Film Festival, through the most advanced digital restoration technology, the film history classics can be rejuvenated, through the time tunnel to come to you and me with a new look.
The "4K Restoration" section of this year's film festival is full of masters, and we have seen the names of film masters such as Alfred Hitchcock, Henri-Georges Kruzzo, and Jean Vigo in the previously released film list. Now we will be reunited here by two film giants, Japanese directors Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi.
In his lifetime, Ozu Yasujiro created 54 works, from "The Knife of Confession" and "Whim" in the 1920s and 1930s to "The Taste of Saury" in 1962, Ozu's film career spanned the silent film era and the sound color film era. His works reflect the human condition of Japanese society in the upheaval of the times, and his early silent films embody a simple and calm comedy style, representing the highest achievements of the Japanese silent film era.
Later in his career, Yasujiro Ozu was still obsessed with using the lens to depict a distant Japan, such as traditional family structures and customs, conveying a Japanese visual beauty. He is good at observing life from the subtleties, with a unique composition style, delicate colors, and always with a faint sadness in humor.
■Yasujiro Ozu
This exhibition screened two works by Yasujiro Ozu, namely "The Taste of Tea and Rice" and "Tokyo Twilight". "The Taste of Tea and Rice" was unveiled at the 16th Shanghai International Film Festival in 2013, when the old version of the 35mm film copy was screened, this time it will meet the audience again with a new 4K look, if you are a die-hard fan of the Shanghai International Film Festival, you may wish to experience the difference between the two versions of the movie experience.
Tokyo Twilight is one of the few films set in the harsh winter of Ozu, and its dramatization of the story is different from the plain style of the director's previous works, which can be seen as a transformation work in the later stages of Ozu Yasujiro's career.
■ Yasujiro Ozu (right) at the filming scene of Tokyo Story
Another Japanese director, Kenji Mizoguchi, is also an "old friend" of the Shanghai International Film Festival, and his classic works have been screened here many times, and his two masterpieces "The Tale of the Residual Chrysanthemum" and "The Tale of the Rainy Moon" were screened in last year's "4K Restoration" section.
Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujiro Ozu were directors of the same generation and entered the film industry a few years before Ozu. His works have a strong realist style, focusing on the lives of low-class Japanese civilians, and are good at depicting the tragic stories of traditional Japanese female characters, and the modernity embodied in them is praised, so he is also known as the master of Japanese women's films.
Kenji Mizoguchi was filmed on the scene of "The Song Girl of Gion"
The two works of Kenji Mizoguchi that will be unveiled in the "4K Restoration" section of this year's film festival are "Doctor Yamaji" and "Konmatsu Monogatari". These two films were shot by Kenji Mizoguchi in the same year (1954) and are representative works of the late stage of his directorial career, among which "Doctor Yamabe" based on the original novel by Mori Ouwai won the Silver Lion Award at the 1954 Venice Film Festival, "The Story of Kinmatsu" was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 8th Cannes Film Festival, and won the 5th Blue Ribbon Best Director Award for Mizoguchi.
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
编剧: Takanori Noda / Yasujiro Ozu
Starring: Kigure Chiyo / Hatada Koji / Sachinobu Sachi / Shiro Chikage / Kasa Chikari
Synopsis
Shigeyoshi Satake, who was born in the countryside of Shinshu, married Miss Senjin Myoko, who came from a high-class society, and the married life of seven or eight years did not bridge the gap between the two people's original origins, but because of the difference in living habits, they were full of contradictions. Satake does not trim the edges of life, smokes cheap cigarettes, eats tea and rice, and sits in third-class carriages. Myoko can't stand her husband's "low-level" lifestyle habits and often plays behind his back with her friends from her student days.
The conflict between the two intensified in their views on the marriage of their niece, and Myoko did not quit and ran to the kobe window to relax. Satake suddenly receives a mission to South America, and Myoko, who has received a telegram and rushes back, finds that her home is empty. When she finally felt lost, Satake, who had a plane delay and changed to the next day's departure, returned home, and the couple had a different kind of tea and rice...
Starring: Setsuko Hara / Inako Arima / Tomokazu Kasa / Isuzu Yamada / Sadaji Takahashi
The eldest daughter, who was married, could not get along with her husband and returned to her father's house to find refuge; the unmarried second daughter suddenly became pregnant with a child and went to the nightclub at night to wait for the appearance of the negative man. The mother, who has eloped with her father's subordinates for many years, suddenly breaks into the life of the two daughters, but after the second daughter beats up the child, she can no longer bear the harsh reality.
Dramatic stories are rare in Ozu's late works, but the low-key approach concocts many classic scenes. The mother kept looking at her daughter on the train to bid farewell to Tokyo, almost foresaw the desolation of the old man's coming late. Being open-minded in the face of life is the way out for Ozu's future works.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Writers: Yoshihide Ieda / Yakuto Nobuji
Starring: Tanaka Teiyo / Kagawa Kyoko / Sugai Ichiro
At the end of the Heian period, the honest and loving Iwagi parent, The Heira Masashi clan, was attacked by his colleagues for violating the orders of the imperial court to relieve the victims, and was demoted to Chikushi. Seven years later, Heisei's wife, Tamaki, took her 13-year-old son, Chef Wang, and her 8-year-old daughter, Anshou, to Chikushi in search of a husband. Orphans and widows had nothing to rely on, and they were deceived by traffickers in the Echigo country. When Mazuru dies, Tamaki is sold to Sado's prostitute house, and the two children are sold into slavery by Dango's Yamanatake family.
For ten years, the brothers and sisters were tortured inhumanly. Upon learning of his mother's presence in Sado, the Cook King plans to escape from the cave. An Shou died in order to help his brother die, and the cook King, who had gained freedom through hardships, decided to go to Beijing to complain about the family's grievances.
Writers: Matsutaro Kawaguchi / Yoshihito Ieda
Starring: Kazuo Kayatani / Kyoko Kagawa / Eitaro Kado / Ryotaro Kobani / Yoko Minamida
The great scribe who was specially responsible for compiling and mounting Buddhist scriptures was approved by the Chunjing court to have the right to operate independently, and although he was a businessman, he was allowed to be given a sword crown surname, and his status was prominent, and his wealth was rolling in. The Great Scribe was miserly with Chun as a person, did not pluck a dime, and was particularly stingy with his wife's mother's family. On the other hand, Yi Chun fell in love with the next daughter Ayu and plotted against her. Ayu was forced to be helpless and lied that she had made a marriage contract with the painter Mao Bingwei.
The brother of the grand master's wife encountered difficulties in capital turnover, and the brother-in-law refused to help, and the wife was extremely embarrassed. At the critical moment, Mao Bingwei raised money everywhere and helped each other. Instead, it provoked the suspicion of Yi Chun.