SILENT OZU FILMS - DVD

THE OZU COLLECTION
THE STUDENT COMEDIES (2 DVD)
Films by Yasujiro Ozu

Master Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu (Tokyo Story) has been revered all over the world for the unique and poetic style of his films. This 2-disc set brings together all of his surviving early student-genre comedies for the first time

Disc 1: DAYS OF YOUTH (Wakaki Hi): Ozu's earliest surviving film follows Watanabe and Yamamoto as they unknowingly compete for the same girl.

I FLUNKED, BUT... (Rakudai Wa Shita Keredo): Takahashi finds a creative way to avoid doing his revision in this roguish comedy reminiscent of Harold Lloyd's The Freshman

Japan | 1929 - 1930 | black and white | silent, Japanese intertitles with English subtitles | DVD9 | 99 minutes + 63 minutes | Original aspect ratio 1.33:1 | Region 2 DVD

Disc 2: THE LADY AND THE BEARD (Shukujo to Hige): Graduate Okajima finds his old-fashioned beard makes life difficult in a comedy exploring the tension between tradition and modernity

WHERE NOW ARE THE DREAMS OF YOUTH (Sieshun No Yume Ima Izuko): Ozu's long-term collaborator Kogo Noda scripts a subtle shift from light to dark as Hirano's carefree college life is marred by tragedy

Japan | 1931 - 1932 | black and white | silent, Japanese intertitles with English subtitles | DVD9 | 72 minutes + 82 minutes | Original aspect ratio 1.33:1 | Region 2 DVD

Special Features

• I Graduated, But... (Yasujiro Ozu, 1929, 11 minutes): surviving fragment of Ozu's early student comedy about a recent graduate struggling to find a job
• Newly-commissioned scores for all films by Ed Hughes featuring The Camilleri Trio and Richard Casey (Dolby Digital stereo 320kbps)
• Ozu: Emotion and Poetry (2011, 20 minutes): Tony Rayns discusses Ozu s early work and influences
• Illustrated booklet with newly commissioned essays from Asian cinema experts Tony Rayns and Alexander Jacoby