Floating Weeds

In the organizer's words:

Director: OZU Yasujirô
1959, 119 minutes, OmeU, DCP

With Ukikusa, Ozu has created a remake of his own silent film classic Ukikusa monogatari from 1934. Komajûrô, the leader of a troupe of traveling actors, returns after many years to an island where his former lover Oyoshi lives with their now grown-up son Kiyoshi. Kiyoshi believes that Komajûrô is his uncle. Sumiko, the initially ignorant current lover and leading actress of the troupe, reacts jealously when she learns of the rekindled liaison. She pays a pretty young actress colleague to flirt with Kiyoshi, but the relationship between the two develops differently than planned. The situation becomes even more troubled when the theater group is about to disband and Kumajûrô's paternity is no longer to be concealed.

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