These three months, I have seen some movies of Yasujiro Ozu, a world-renowned Japanese movie director, and I am deeply fascinated by the breathtaking aesthetics in Ozu’s works. Yasujiro Ozu was born in 1903 and officially became a director in 1927 before being an assistant for four years. Being one of the greatest contributors to Japanese film industry, Ozu perfectly utilized his camera to leave the world with the ideal, peaceful and traditional scene of ordinary Japanese families. In fact, before World War II, most of his works were teen comedies having cheerful plots and themes; however, after the explosion of the two atomic bombs drawing down the curtain of World War II, Ozu turned his stories from somehow unrealistic romance to down-to-earth portrait of Japanese people, capturing their cultural and ethnic values, and later became his representative style.

     So far, I have seen twelve works of his, and the one I like most is his second color film “Good Morning” (1959). Using the viewpoint of two little brothers, Ozu presented the suspicion and envy in adults’ world with innocent and unsophisticated tone, making this film impressive. Family is the main theme Ozu always focused on. The relation between people－neighbors, parents and children or husbands and wives－portrayed in his films accompanied with the view of marriage, education and job of post-war era impeccably illustrated the Japanese worth. Also, it’s not difficult to notice that train appears in almost all of his works. After the tragic defeat of World War II, the tranquil scene of having a train to pass by the small village in late evening while having family members to eat dinner on tatami together after work and school actually gives people lots of comfort. Under the historical background, Ozu’s works softly comforted the whole generation. I think that is a collective emotion which nowadays audience can never comprehend. He not only presented the cultural values of his home country to the world but also provided strength to his fellow countrymen to stay strong after historical tragedy.

     Besides of Ozu’s glorious achievement in film industry, his unique life story surprised me. During his adolescence, he was a hopeless alcoholic; but, it is also the crucial period when he started cultivating the habit of watching movies. Afterward, he was enlisted to fight in the World War II, staying in China for two years for war and joining the famous battle of Nanking. I believe it was Yasujiro Ozu’s special life experience and solid training of film field gave him full of nutrition, facilitating him to outstand from other movie directors to become one of the brightest stars in world’s film history.