SETSUKO HARA
Hear hear!
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Ozu’s statement seems kind of self-serving, favoring the topics that he wished to address, while denigrating the work of directors who might be considered artistic rivals, like Mizoguchi. Is he suggesting that every actress is really a prostitute? I doubt that Hara was the only Japanese actress of her generation that could play a dutiful bourgeois daughter.
Hara was a good actress.
Her roles, in my mind, kind of prevent her from attaining greatness.
For example, Kinuyo Tanaka was a great actress, because she was allowed to show her greatness in a film such as “Life of Oharu” and as Tamaki in “Sansho the Bailiff” and Miyagi in “Ugetsu Monogatari” and her turn in Oyu Sama and she was also good in Ozu’s “A Hen in the Wind”.
She gets to do more acting than Setsuko does. Setsuko plays the same character in many films, and smiles and bows most of the time.
See Hara in The Idiot, and also dancing the tango in Ball at the House of Anjo, and also Sound of the Mountain..
And remember, that smile comes in different shapes and sizes, and hides a myriad of emotions. What pure unbounded joy on the bike ride in Late Spring, and then what frustration and seething confusion and annoyance…
it’s not the same Noriko in Late Spring as Tokyo Story, even if there are some similarities- variations on a theme as with Ozu
If Ozu was really trying to get one up on Mizo, which seems to be implied but far from certain, well here’s what Mizo (who was tough on Naruse) said of him
“I portray what should not be possible in the world as if it should be possible, but Ozu portrays what should be possible as if it were possible, and that is much more difficult.”
and Ozu was a fair weather director. It’s also true that female roles as disabled, mentally ill or prostitutes are often more eye-catching than daughters in family dramas, and that’s long been the case, in various countries.
But yes of course Tanaka was great
Hara was a fantastic actress. She was the real driving force that got me into Japanese cinema in the first place. That performance in Late Spring is incredible.
Also, she possesses the most beautiful smile you’ll ever see.
She was a great actress who was a great presence.
She’s on a real short list.
Setsuko Hara is great in Kurosawa’s NO REGRETS FOR OUR YOUTH (1946), which is very different from Ozu’s films. Just look at the rice farming climax. She’s also great in Ozu’s films, of course.
One of the very best. I like your phrase Doinel, on a real short list.
I don’t think she is an example of excellent acting at all, she doesn’t have much range. She’s also kind of a dog, not very attractive.
Chisu Ryo is on a very short list, too.
NOT
Jason, you don’t like Ryu?
He is a good actor, but he limited his range by only playing in Ozu films in which Ozu puts him in very similar roles all of the time.
He never had the chance to show what else he can do, other than show the different possible sides of a middle class father figure.
At least Ozu let Ryu sing from time to time.
The same character all the time? Well, despite that being patently untrue for Hara, (does anyone that’s actually seen her work with Kurosawa, Yamanaka, Ozu, and Naruse actually think this?), it’s also not true for Ryu.
It’s called variation on a theme, and it’s something we hold in incredibly high regard when other actors do it (DeNiro playing a gangster, for example), but something we denigrate when it occurs in an Ozu film, which is ridiculous.
Ryu played the same character over and over? Okay, let’s look at Ozu’s three most famous films and test this theory.
Late Spring
Chishu Ryu plays a mid 50’s father that tricks his daughter into marrying. He’s very loving, but also willing to lie to his daughter to get her to do what society expects of her.
Early Summer
Chishu Ryu plays a mid 30’s son, father, and brother in a very large family that lives together. He’s a doctor and a harsh disciplinarian, but also a very jovial friend. He can be very serious and shows an ability to be very fun loving.
Tokyo Story
Chishu Ryu plays a man in his early 70’s that goes along with his wife to see his children. He’s kind, but was once a drunk, and a mean one. Age seems to have softened his emotion, almost to the point that he doesn’t seem to care about much of anything anymore, though this is not true.
Remember variation on a theme. It’s very simple. Ozu’s actors plays characters that may, superficially, be the same character, but anyone that actually spends more than five seconds thinking about the characters onscreen will realize how ridiculous that assumption is.
Why is range a measure of great acting? Pick a thing, study it, perfect it, do it the best possible. Seems admirable to me. Be like complaining Ozu didn’t have much range as a director.
People complain about that all the time, Mr. Kasman. It’s absurd, even if it’s true (which it isn’t).
He is a good actor, but he limited his range by only playing in Ozu films in which Ozu puts him in very similar roles all of the time.
He was in close to 200 films, the vast majority of which were not Ozu films.
^ Exactly. Setsuko Hara was in 73 films and only 5 of them were Ozu films. She spent the first 13 years of her acting career without ever acting in an Ozu film.
^Yes and Hara’s magnificent turns for Naruse are completely unlike her Ozu performances.
Check out Ryu in THE FLAVOR OF GREEN TEA OVER RICE. Not like his other Ozu roles at all.
Check out Ryu in Japan’s first color movie, CARMEN COMES HOME, as a small-town schoolmaster. He’s quite funny.
A truly great actress, and I find it puzzling that anyone would try to undervalue Chishu Ryu’s brilliance. The posts from I’ve Lived Afrop Pop and Daniel Kasman nail it. The man was a great actor, one the very best.
LATER IN LIFE RYU REVEALED HOW OZU WOULD SUBJECT HIM TO ALMOST ENDLESS TAKES IN COMPARISON TO THE RAST OF THE CAST ,HE HIMSELF HAD A MODEST OPINION OF HIS OWN ABILITY
He would also routinely state that his performances in Ozu’s films were always quite good, because of the insistence of Ozu and that he channeled those ideas to other films.
He’s one of the few actors that could do character work and lead work with equal brilliance.
I’ve Lived Afro Pop, all your comments are spot on. Well said.
It’s very lazy to class Hara and Ryu as one-dimensional.
ON THE SET OF REPAST NARUSE WAS UNABLE TO PRODUCE THE RIGHT RESPONCE FROM HARA IN A EARLY SCENE SO AS A SOLUTION A CAT WAS PRODUCED TO PROVIDE MATERIAL FOR CUTAWAYS AS A MEANS OF DISTRACTING THE AUDIENCE AND GIVE HARA SOMETHING TO WORK OFF
Tom Berenger has been in almost 80 movies, and I don’t think you would say that he is a great actor.
All I said about Ryu is that he is not on a short list of great actors, and has not shown a lot of range, but God forbid you criticize Ozu or any of his troupe of actors.
Jason, all you said he hasn’t got a lot of range without producing any evidence or precedence for your claim. ThenI’ve Lived Afro Pop replied with a very detailed response of how this is not true. It’s not as if you’ve been hounded down, you just got straight up proven wrong.
liam allen is slightly depressed
WAS SHE AGREAT ACTRESS OR AS OZUS STATEMANT ABOUT HIS MUSE MIGHT SUGEST [ EVERY ACTRESS CAN PLAY A PROSTITUTE TO SOME EXTENT HOWEVER IT IS RARE TO FIND AN ACTRESS WHO CAN PLAY THE ROLE OF A DAUGHTER FROM A GOOD FAMILY] MORE OF A FELT PRESENCE.