Yasujiro Ozu and Kogo Noda understood how to do it. They wrote many screenplays together, including those for some of the greatest films ever made, from "Late Spring" (1949) to "Tokyo Story" (1953) to "An Autumn Afternoon" (1962). Baths are important. And breakfast. And walks and naps. The important thing to remember is that, for the most part, writing isn't what happens when you're at your keyboard. That, to paraphrase embellish Truman Capote, is merely the typing part.
The clip above is from Kazuo Inoue's 1983 documentary about Ozu, "I Lived, But..." -- included in the Criterion DVD edition of "Tokyo Story."
3 Comments
Nice video. Thank you for sharing Jim!
Everyone knows that the key to the Ozu/Noda collaboration was drinking. David Brooks has a similar theory about why Republicans and Democrats in Washington can't ever work together anymore: They no longer drink together. Alcohol fixes everything, been saying it for years.
I have always liked the Japanese aesthetics of rock gardens, and sake bottles arranging.
I have just perfectly set my 79 bottle. One more to go to start my screenplay ;)
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