A Hen in the Wind

In the organizer's words:

Director: OZU Yasujirô
1948, 83 minutes, OmeU, DCP

Set in Tokyo shortly after the end of the Second World War, the film depicts the tragic situation of a desperate young mother. Tokiko, played by Tanaka Kinuyo, lives alone with her four-year-old son Hiroshi in a cheap little apartment and waits for her husband to return from the war. When Hiroshi falls ill, she is unable to pay the hospital costs and prostitutes herself once in order to get money for the necessary medical treatment.
When the husband returns unharmed, the family's happiness seems perfect, but the honest Tokiko is unable to conceal her behavior from him during the emergency. The man is furious and becomes violent. Both are faced with the question of how to deal with their feelings of guilt and honor.

Film series
Ozu Yasujirô (1903 - 1963)
A tribute to the Japanese directing legend

Ozu Yasujirô is one of Japan's most internationally renowned directors. To mark his 120th birthday, which he would have celebrated this year, the production company Shôchiku and the Japan Foundation have digitally restored several works, six of which we are presenting. The series is complemented by TOKYO-GA by master director Wim Wenders.

The perfectionist Ozu developed an unmistakable film aesthetic, which he pursued with strict consistency. Characteristic are camera shots in which the action is filmed at the eye level of a person sitting on the floor, whereby Ozu always used a 50mm lens. He also deliberately avoided cross-fades, tracking shots or panning shots and restricted himself to fixed shots and simple cuts.

In almost all of his films, Ozu focused on the complex relationships within a family and portrayed the multi-layered emotional interdependencies between the different generations.
Both behind and in front of the camera, he worked with a well-coordinated and distinguished team, and many of his actors and actresses were among the stars of their time.

The series is a cooperation with the Arsenal - Institut für Film und Videokunst e.V. in Berlin, the Metropolis Kino, Kinemathek Hamburg e.V. and the Filmhaus Nürnberg in the KunstKulturQuartier.

Price information:

Admission free