Search - Ozu Yasujiro Music Anthology :: Ost

Great music within the film, somewhat diminished when heard

Robert Lipsitz | Washington D.C. | 02/16/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

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Ok, I love Japanese Cinema including Ozu films thus I'm a biased critic, but let me tell you about this music anyway. First, you must understand a basic premise, Ozu films study the constant change inherent in family dynamics. Families change within themselves, children grow older, get married, leave the house, parents grow even older, they die. Sometimes even resentment can occur towards another family member. Ozu is ever presenting the delicate balance between happiness and sadness that we precariously hang on. Why do we cry at weddings, it is a bitter sweet moment, we are happy for our children...beginning to start their own family, we have succeeded as parents, the cycle of life continues, yet we also realize we are older too and our sun is setting as our children's is rising, we are reminded of our mortality. Still, through our children we can achieve a type of immortality. In Japanese this `bitter sweetness' is called mono no aware and this term is the best way to describe the theme of an Ozu film.



Even if over short periods of time a family can secure some semblance of stability, the real world will change around a family and Ozu will force his family to adapt within this milieu of constant change. It is this process of adapting or failure to adapt in which he achieves high dramatic tension.



This theme of change within change is not only emblematic family life in Japan, it is emblematic of life, thus Ozu subtly shows us our infinite humanity.(intricately weaves the fabric of our life with ever present threads of humanity)



Music can be a powerful trigger of emotion and Ozu has his composers create melodies that blend synergistically with the film to pack maximal emotional punch, but never over powering, so seamless is the music that you don't hear it you just feel it. He demands this quality from his composers and he gets it. A great aspect of any Ozu film are these scores. They are bitter sweet melodies so evocative of the family themes Ozu presents in his films. Some would complain the music is saccharine but one focuses on the themes of Ozu its hard to imagine any other music. I actually compare this music to Fiddler on the Roof, musically they are completely unrelated but intellectual very similar in their ability to evoke strong memories of time place and family (even if they are someone else's memory).



While I enthusiastically recommend this compilation as it is a one of a kind opportunity to hear some rare classic film scores...it is not without some reservation. First as I mentioned the synergy of the music, it works both ways. The films are better because of the music. The music is better because of the films, and thus when you hear the music alone you feel a palpable lessening of the emotional effect. Additionally the quality of the recordings is not what I would expect. After hearing the soundtracks on the criterion restorations, I expected equal quality in this CD. Also there is too much music from his lesser films, his masterpieces each have one or two scores included on the disk but it is those masterpiece films that have the most powerful, scores, I was hoping for more from those films. Alas, these films are at least 50 years old and such a collection to be available in the United States... I should stop my quibbling.



This CD is a must for the connoisseur of Japanese films, but I would not recommend it as a blind buy for the adventurous shopper.

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