The films of Ozu Yasujiro provide an excellent example of competing readings of 2D and 3D spatial design. Developing a distinct cinematic style during the 35 years of his career, Ozu made films richly structured around visual design in two and three dimensions. The attention to divisions of space, both as it is inhabited by characters and as it inhabits the camera frame, makes Ozu’s films a powerful inspiration and resource for this project.

|tokyo| uses his 1949 film Late Spring (Banshun) as a specific reference. The title of my project is taken from a lively sequence in which two characters discuss the location of various landmarks relative to their position inside their house. The characters’ gestural indications show the complexity not only of the area they discuss but also of the relationship between screen and profilmic space.

The design of architectural structure in an Ozu film is defined within camera frame, but takes form through the motion of the characters. I am particularly attracted to this use of action to describe not only the function but also the form of space. Ozu’s graphic design of space sets up the dynamic between narrative function and 3D reality of spaces and movements, while beautifully capturing their shape and rhythm in a 2D abstraction.