Often called the most "Japanese" of Japanese directors, Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963) created films about middle-class Japanese life and familial relationships with simplicity and austerity. Known for keeping the camera three feet off the ground in order to view the traditional Japanese sitting on the floor, Ozu presented quiet observations of parents and children caught between obligation and the modern world. Ozu, who was an acclaimed director in Japan and whose body of work reached 54 films, first began to gain notoriety in the West late in his life.

Unusual Childhood

Yasujiro Ozu was born in the Fukugawa district of Tokyo, on December 12, 1903, the son of a fertilizer salesman. Rarely seeing his father, he attended a remote school at the family's ancestral hometown where his doting mother primarily raised him. His unconventional childhood was reflected in many of his films, which invariably dealt with family life and relations between parents...