Tokihiko Okada, a silent film actor on the rise, and one of Ozu's early career megastars-in-the-making, died far too young. I learned something surprising, delightful, and touching when I researched his background and legacy.
Okada is now considered a legend from Japan's silent era, even though he was in just over 20 films (all produced between 1920 and 1933). His first picture with Ozu was That Night's Wife. I would contend that Wife and Tokyo Chorus feature not only two of Okada's best performances, but among the most complex and internalized on display among Ozu's surviving early work (if not Japanese silent cinema as a whole). Okada would then immediately collaborate with Ozu on two back-to-back productions, the mega-budget, mass-market New Year picture Young Miss, and The Lady and The Beard.
He made a couple of movies with Yasujiro Shimazu and then returned to work with Ozu on the disappointing Beauty's Sorrows and then Tokyo Chorus, which would be his best-remembered and most-acclaimed role (under Ozu or any other director).
The tragedy of Okada is that he died of tuberculosis in 1934 just as his fame and success were truly exploding. He was on-track to become an even bigger success, and likely would be as well-remembered for a long life and career as guys like Toshiro Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai.
The silver lining is that his daughter Mariko Okada would go on to become a legend and success in her own right. She was born in 1933, just a year before his death.
Mariko Okada is still widely-considered the greatest actress in Japanese cinema history. As revered as Meryl Streep might be in the US, she is held in yet higher esteem, from my understanding. Now 77, she has worked with all the greats, including Chishu Ryu, Mifune, and even Ozu in Late Autumn and An Autumn Afternoon, his second-to-last and final film, respectively.
Her story is so good, it couldn't be made up.
Have you ever found yourself breathless and watery-eyed in a moment of discovery? That is where I found myself putting this piece together.
Until I began this project, I was completely oblivious to this micro/macrocosmic narrative that exists alongside portions of Ozu's filmography. Just as Tokyo Chorus was the defining take-off moment for Ozu's career as a director, this "aha moment" was like the first major find in an archaeological dig for me.
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Discovering Ozu is an ongoing series of articles designed to introduce curious cinephiles to the work of Japanese master filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu.
Essential sources include: David Bordwell's book Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema, Donald Richie's Ozu: His Life and Films, and the various booklets and featurettes produced by The Criterion Collection. Quick reference often comes from definitive Ozu fansite "Ozu-san".
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