Last night, Pat and I watched Wim Wender's 1983 documentary "Tokyo-Ga". It is a loving tribute to the film maker HE most admires and respects, Yasujiro Ozu. Wenders and his film maker pal, Werner Herzog (WHAT a pairing!!!), travel to Tokyo, in search of the Tokyo Ozu depicted.

Like Woody Allen with New York, or John Waters with Baltimore, from the 1920's to 1960's, Ozu gave his full attention to the stage of Tokyo. Only a few days ago did I see Ozu's 1953 film "Tokyo Story" (if you get my monthly movie list, you know I LOVED it), plus, Pat and I just saw the recent film "Lost in Translation", which is also set in Tokyo. It's been a VERY Tokyo-esque week. (Interesting place, but I don't want to live there.) Like these other directors (but before them), Ozu used many of the same actors. I TOTALLY get that.

WARNING: SOME might find the next few paragraphs confusing and/or boring:

Yasujiro Ozu died in 1963.

As Wenders interviews the main people who worked "with" Ozu, I wasn't surprised to hear that he ran the show. Directors with a clear, strong vision and goal MUST be in control. As his actors and crew retold their favorite stories, there was a deep sense of respect, awe, fear, and gratitude for his no-nonsense, few-words, no-debate approach. What Ozu said, went. If you worked for him for 30 years, as did his cameraman, you came to terms with that attitude - being creative was NOT your job - and you appreciated Ozu's results.

As Ozu's career progressed, he put more "limits" on what was used to get films done. For example, he used only ONE lens! (50 mm) and, designed a tripod with only two height settings: lens/eye level sitting on floor and lens/eye level standing, and, always matching the position of the actor.

One city, same actors, just one lens, two camera heights, the theme of people in a changing world.

I'm catching on as "Tokyo-Ga" progresses. One city - the one in greatest transition. Same actors - reliable, steady, good symbol. One lens - 50 mm - no wide angle, no telephoto, close, intimate, no distortion, the glass lens equal to the human lens. Two camera heights - never looking up at or down upon the characters. Equality of the viewer with the character.

I realized that if I'd been older, spoken Japanese, and met Ozu, we could have had a decent conversation about such aesthetic considerations, since I had based my Thesis on very similar ideas. This didn't happen, obviously, and although I am sure there would've been much I could've learned from this man, I had my own great mentors (and don't feel I shortchanged at all, as you all know).

Stories that appear common. Everyday. You, your family, your neighbors, your city, your era...NONE TRULY stable despite our constant efforts to create tradition, stability, peace of mind, and rationalization.

EACH of us has a story that APPEARS common and unworthy of a closer look.

We often NEED that illusion...but it's a lie.

The closer we look at a small thing, the bigger the entire picture becomes.