Setsuko Hara is stunning beyond my meager talents of narration. I have seen Tokyo Story, you’d have to be dead not to get emotional while seeing it.
Been thinking I should watch some Ozu movie, but the descriptions… yeah I dunno. I don’t need heavy stuff like that… I need something that gives me energy and puts a smile on my face and helps me keep moving.
Doesn’t get much better than Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu, and Yasujiro Ozu. I’m a big fan of all three. And don’t forget her starring role in an early Kurosawa film, No Regrets for Our Youth.
New life goal: MYSTERY FAME
“Shaolin Soccer” it is then!
You see, that’s the beauty of it. You let the heaviness of the movie wash over you, a temporary weight that brings you down. But once you digest what you saw, suddenly the real world doesn’t seem so bad and you’re more grateful for what you have.
I knew I had seen her in an early Kurosawa movie. Thanks for that.
There were unsubstantiated rumors that she and Ozu were lovers; he had spent most of his adult life — after returning from the second World War — looking after his mother.
There are also rumors, rather more substantiated, that Ozu was gay. (He was kicked out of school for writing a love letter to another boy. No Ozu scholars seem to deny the writing of the letter, although some dismiss it as a mere joke, and some gloss over its import in writings on Ozu, simply calling it a scandalous letter.) Setsuko Hara is rumored to have been a lesbian, although I’m not aware of any backup for this other than her never marrying.
Considering the stigma in Japan at that time toward gays of both sexes, it wouldn’t be surprising if either rumor or both are true and there’s little collaborating evidence. The questions remains about her sudden retirement soon after his death, and her utter seclusion thereafter. While there is no proof of cause and effect, it also seems not to be coincidental.
My original title for the piece was “The Greta Garbo of Japan Dies.”
I had assumed she had passed years ago, but this news still saddens me. She was a fine actress, one of great talent.
And you may well not have heard of him, either, since none of his films were released in the United States during his lifetime
I hadn’t realised you only publish BoingBoing to American computers, I must be accessing it illegitimately.
Hint: Don’t alienate your audience; even Japanese people read this blog (FYI that’s a place that isn’t in America).
I spend most of my time writing English language books and a magazine, so your point is well taken.
If you do take that away from it - all too often instead I take away a message that everything is even more shitty and hopeless than I thought it was before. It’s an added weight to a tired back. Depends on the movie tho, but sounds like the wrong kind of gambling to me.
Miyazaki movies can really be great for me. Not without substance, but you can get such a feeling of hope from them.
There is no false hope at the end of Ozu’s movies.
Do you ever wonder if I achieved my goal of MYSTERY FAME yet? Sadly, you’ll never know. That’s the whole point.
That was rather the point of my comment. I’ll try harder in future 
Sorry…
