Ozu and the Ethics of Indeterminacy
Ozu and the Ethics of Indeterminacy
by Daisuke Miyao
Duke University Press, 2026
ISBNs
Cloth: 978-1-4780-2987-8
Paper: 978-1-4780-3332-5
eISBN: 978-1-4780-9458-6 (OA)
eISBN: 978-1-4780-6207-3 (standard)
About the Book
Ozu and the Ethics of Indeterminacy re-examines cinema studies through the work of Japanese filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu, employing the multiple methodologies and indeterminacy of Ozu’s films as a model for discussions of cinema’s relationship to the world and the formation of film studies as a discipline. Centering a selection of Ozu films in each chapter, Daisuke Miyao builds a method based on the way films directed by Ozu avoid unitary perspective and allow multiple possibilities of standpoint and spectatorial position, which Miyao calls the ethics of indeterminacy. Analyzing Ozu’s use of cinematography, narrative, and color, Miyao theorizes the indeterminate in film—the seen and unseen, human and nonhuman, domestic and international—to initiate a multi-directional dialogue on the study of cinema that reaches beyond auteurism and culturalism to establish a new basis for disciplinary conversations.
About the Author
Daisuke Miyao is Professor and Hajime Mori Chair in Japanese Language and Literature at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author and editor of several books, including Japonisme and the Birth of Cinema, The Aesthetics of Shadow: Lighting and Japanese Cinema, and Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom, published by Duke University Press.
Reviews
“In this highly original and richly illustrated work, Daisuke Miyao examines the work of master filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu from fresh perspectives. Ozu’s use of color and camera movement are discussed more thoroughly than ever before. Miyao reveals how Ozu films emerged from Japanese society as only a critic deeply knowledgeable of both that culture and the international influences of film history could manage.”
-- Tom Gunning, author of The Attractions of the Moving Image: Essays on History, Theory, and the Avant-Garde
-- Tom Gunning, author of The Attractions of the Moving Image: Essays on History, Theory, and the Avant-Garde
"Daisuke Miyao beautifully reveals how Ozu turns every color choice, every cut, every object and moment of transience into an act of compassion for the spectator. His luminous book captures the quiet humanity inside Ozu's cinema and reminds us that how we look at film - and life - determines how gently we move through it."
-- Daniel Raim, director of The Ozu Diaries
-- Daniel Raim, director of The Ozu Diaries
Tags
Indeterminacy, Shōwa period 1926-1989, 1903-1963, Nationalism in motion pictures, Ozu Yasujirō, Asian Studies, Motion pictures, Japan, Ethics, Media Studies, Film, Criticism and interpretation, Performing Arts, Cultural & Ethnic Studies, Philosophy, 20th century, Social Science, History
Open Access Information
Label: University of California Libraries
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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