ALEX DE GRASSI

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A Story of Floating Weeds - Touring 10-11-12

A silent film by Yasujiro Ozu (1934, black & white)

A Story of Floating Weeds was among Ozu's most successful films, both critically and financially.  “Floating Weeds, drifting down the leisurely river of our lives," has long been a favored metaphor in Japanese prose and poetry, and in this 1934 film, it serves as a metaphor for a group of traveling actors who seem to be drifting aimlessly, carried by currents beyond their control.

The film revolves around the lovable ne'er-do-well character of Kihachi as his theater troupe returns to a small town where he has a lover by whom he has a now grown son.  The youth does not know this, but the leading lady of the troupe—the boss's mistress—finds out and plans her revenge.  Though both parents had hoped for some permanence, a family life, the end of the film finds the troupe leader again on the road.  He continues to drift down the river and one of Ozu's major themes, the dissolution of the family, is again played out.

Ozu remade the film with sound and color in 1959 under the title Floating Weeds.  While the color version stayed true to the original story, (said to be based on the 1928 American Film The Barker by George Fitzmaurice), the 1934 film has a somewhat more tragic feel to it that is highlighted by the gorgeous black and white photography.  Ozu's straight cut, mosaic style of filmmaking utilizes low camera angles, but no pans, dissolves or fades.  This approach, as well as the use of narrative ellipsis—omission of sections of the story—helps make for efficient, compact storytelling that propels the film forward without loss of continuity.

A Story of Floating Weeds was made for Ozu's home company Shochiku Studios with photography and editing by Hideo Mohara. The exteriors were shot in Kamisowa in central Japan. The cast is led by Takeshi Sakamoto in the role of Kihachi and also features Choko Iida as the mother of his son, Shinkichi, in turn played by Koji (Hideo) Mitsui. The jealous mistress Otaka is played by Rieko Yagumo, and the young seductress Otaki is played by Yashiko Tsubouchi. The story was written by "James Maki" and the script by Tadao Ikeda.

A Story of Floating Weeds is 85 minutes in length and does not have an intermission.

Alex de Grassi was commissioned by the New York Guitar Festival to compose and perform original music for Yasusjiro Ozu’s 1934 silent film A Story of Floating Weeds. The premiere was held January 28 2006 at Flushing Town Hall in New York. Reconstruction of the score was commissioned by Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for its 2009 Guitar Festival.

To read the recent JazzTimes article, please click here.