The name of Chishu Ryu, to the modern public, is equivalent to the name of Ozu: the filmmaker’s favourite actor (favourite actress was Setsuko Hara) starred in essential films like Late Spring or Tokyo Story. Ryu participated to all but two of Ozu’s films: earlier on as an extra, then often as protagonists, occasionally in supporting roles. Whatever the case, he was a sign, a signature, of the director. In such role, he starred in Wender’s Tokyo-Ga.
An austere father in Chichi Ariki, though more often the congenial, amiable type, Ryu was not a comedy actor, but that doesn’t mean he was devoid of humour. Watch him in Good Morning trying to look all angry at kids playing hooky: they just can’t fall for it.
If Ryu (1904-1993) was quite popular in Japan, it is not because of Ozu. Ryu was one of the main characters in the very long film series (a total of 49) Otoko wa Tsurai yo, also known as Tora-san, directed by Yoji Yamada. Ryu worked with Akira Kurosawa in three films, Juzo Itami, and Kinuyo Tanaka. We can see him in the role of school principal in a masterpiece that deserves more recognition: Twenty-Four Eyes by Keisuke Kinoshita (1954). Other great performances are in She Was Like a Wild Christanthemum and Carmen Comes Home, also by Kinoshita.
In his early cinema, Ozu had shown appreciation for American influence, but in 1937, when he wrote that Chichi Ariki that would be made in 1942, times had already changed. The regime had launched a culture war, at the same time as China, to spur collective sacrifice and a sens...
