Although I often talk about movie, music, opera and literature, I do not like criticism. Comment, recommendation, impression, or opinions are okay. But criticism sometimes makes me wonder why the speaker could be so confident about understanding the creator's mind and thoughts. If a person could understand other person's mind so well and write it precisely, it would be a record not a criticism, like Dr. Watson writes about Sherlock Holmes.
Unless you're his family or a best friend, you will probably never know an artist. So when I talk about an artwork I try to simply follow my experience and my subjective eyes, not to become a spokesperson of somebody whom I've never met in my life.
Years ago I discovered the world of legendary filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu. The amazing experience to know his masterpieces was like boarding a supersonic transport. But I never found a criticism of Ozu which hit me truely. It's certainly a female and family drama as they say, but I think it's about break-through female and outstanding family living in almost surreal modern world. I can't tell why and I don't care.
People in his movie exchange a charming, sophisticated and catchy dialogue in a very clear, definite and distinct tone that I hardly hear in modern Japanese conversations. I don't know whether it's because of Ozu's unique creation or it's a style of people as they were in good old days. I don't care, I just enjoy it.
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