Ozu Yasujiro's name is invoked regularly in discussions of Hou in both Taiwan and Japan, and among Western critics as well. Like neorealism, it is a relationship begging for clarification. None of the critics comparing the two directors attempt any close analysis and they tend to base their comparisons on misunderstandings of both directors' narrative strategies. Ozu may very well be a useful reference point. It's easy to cite a few general areas of overlap: minimalism, a predilection for unusual self-restraint and systematization, as well as a fascination for the graphic qualities of the image. However, to posit influences is misleading to say the least. This section will bring the comparison of each director's style under close analysis. In addition, the section on nation argues that the Hou / Ozu comparison overlooks many extra-cinematic elements which suggest the comparison finds its basis in a neo-colonial postmodernism (for the japanese audiences and media industry) or orientalism (for many Western critics who painstakingly search for the ideal pan-Asian representative).
For this section, readers following this analysis with the help of video disks should replace City of Sadness with the Criterion Collection's laser disk of Ozu's Floating Weeds. All running times for clips in this section refer to the Ozu video disk. For more information about Ozu's filmmaking career, we suggest David Bordwell's Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema and Hasumi Shigehiko's Kantoku Ozu Yasujiro.
Ozu and Hou --- Introduction