Ozu without Ozu

The term “pattern recognition” conjures up images of whirring computers that use algorithms and statistical techniques to detect recurring patterns within datasets. We wouldn’t immediately associate it with film analysis, but this video essay challenges that assumption. Kasra Karbasi and Mohammad Amin Komijani find a novel way to examine the films of Ozu: they look for graphic patterns in the set design, prop placement and costume design of the Japanese master’s movies. Unsurprisingly, Ozu’s recognizable muted color pallet is a focal point. However, they also delve deeply into the play of lines that is so typical of almost all Ozu locations, and how the characters’ actions emphasize and enhance those lines. Here, thematic and narrative elements are set aside: graphic design is used as a tool for film analysis.

 

Once the two video essayists have identified the graphic patterns that characterize Ozu’s work, they search for similar patterns in the films of other directors. Karbasi and Komijani describe these directors as having “covered” Ozu’s movies. They find similar visual sensitivities in the works of wildly different filmmakers. Woody Allen’s September is the most obvious example, containing more than one nod to Ozu’s mise-en-scène. But Karbasi and Komijani also detect Ozu’s visual patterns in the work of Claire Denis, Michael Haneke, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Cristi Puiu.

 

Kasra Karbasi and Mohammad Amin Komijani operate under the moniker Green and Red, an apt name given their passion for graphic analysis. But they do more than just identify colors and lines. They have a keen eye for the interplay between those visual patterns on the one hand and camera and character movement on the other. They explain how the lines and props in Ozu’s film work hand in hand to construct (and sometimes deconstruct) cinematic space. And they even supplement the voice-over analysis with asides and footnotes that dart around the screen. The result is a fresh and inspiring video essay that invites the viewer to search for more patterns in cinema.