PINNLAND EMPIRE: May 2023

Monday, May 1, 2023

THE SCHOOL OF OZU: HOU HSIAO-HSIEN - PART ONE UPDATED

Ozu’s films were a revelation to me - Hou Hsiao-Hsien, TALKING WITH OZU

Below is a collection of visual comparisons between the films of Yasujiro Ozu's and Hou Hsiao Hsien.

What's so fascinating is that even before Hou discovered the films of Ozu, there was a strange coincidental synchronicity between their work (you'll see a handful of examples of this throughout). Hou hadn't discovered Ozu's work until the mid-80's...

since I was small and in my student days, the movies I saw were, more than anything, American - Hou Hsiao Hsien, Staging Memories: Hou Hsiao-hsien’s A City of Sadness

While some directors shy away from talking about influence in order to avoid being eternally paired with someone else - often times the similarities are still undeniable even on a surface level. Quentin Tarantino claims to have never been in to the French New Wave yet his production company is called "A Bande Apart" and Pulp Fiction has a handful of French New Wave references. Jim Jarmusch claims to have never seen a Star Wars movie yet both Ghost Dog and The Dead Don't Die feature direct homages & references to George Lucas' epic franchise. Now...both The French New Wave & Star Wars are the kinds of works that you don't actually have to see in order to know where certain references comes from, but at the same time you can see the potential cracks/inconsistencies in their claims.

At the end of the day- who knows?

Hou Hsiao Hsien is very much his own director but the influence which showed up later on in his movies is very clear (below is a specific example of a film he directed before discovering the work of Ozu but the coincidental similarities are still there).

Good Morning /
Green Green Grass Of Home

Every Hou film isn't represented in this piece but I think I got the point the across (while there is a part 2 planned, there are only so many shots of train stations, hanging laundry and industrial landscapes one can show until things get a bit repetitive).

Enjoy...

I’ve watched a lot of Ozu films recently and I’m about to make my own films depicting contemporary Taiwan - Hou Hsiao Hsien

Early Summer /
Good Men, Good Women

Early Spring / Dust In The Wind

Early Spring /
Dust In The Wind

Early Spring / Dust In The Wind

Early Spring /
Dust In The Wind

Early Spring / Dust In The Wind

Ozu is like a mathematician. He knew the lives of Japanese people very well. And depicted them in his work. It’s as if he analyzed them in a detached way - Hou Hsiao-Hsien, TALKING WITH OZU


Equinox Flower/ A Summer At Grandpa's

Equinox Flower/ A Summer At Grandpa's

The idea came from a Japanese friend. I wanted to tell a family story, just like Ozu, but to make it about modern Tokyo. I had a map of Tokyo. I started off by working out which area I liked most. After thinking up the professions for each character, I was able to work out which part of the city they would go to - Hou Hsiao-Hsien, The Guardian

Tokyo Story /

Cafe Lumiere

Filmmakers such as Yasujiro Ozu and Mikio Naruse were huge inspirations - Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Headstuff.org

Early Summer /

City Of Sadness

Actually, it is very difficult to cross national borders and shoot the film of a different culture. How many successful films have you seen? There are very few. The reason is very simple. For example, when we look at Asian-themed films made by foreign companies, it's not accurate. When we watch their films about Chinese people, it's not accurate. It's a very big challenge, because they don't know about the Chinese way of life, daily rituals, etc. But I feel this is interesting. It's a chal-lenge; it's pretty interesting - Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Senses of cinema