Japanese Film - Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema

(It's difficult to know where to post things. I've posted this already in the Japanese Culture group.)

I've watched almost all the movies available by Ozu Yasujiro, a wonderful Japanese film director. There are a few books out on the man and his methods, one by Donald Richie and another more elusive volume by David Bordwell called Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema. I've been trying to find the latter for about a year for under $150 with no luck.

So I was amazed to read the saga of this book's printing history by Bordwell himself:

http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/?p=59

And even more delighted to find that a free downloadable pdf of the book itself is now available through the Center for Japanese Studies and Michigan University. They have many other volumes, such as Wild Geese by Mori Ogai and Donald Richie's 1971 Japanese Cinema, Film Style and National Character in this project. But here is the short route to the Ozu for those who might be interested:

http://www.umich.edu/~iinet/cjs/publications/cjsfaculty/Bordwell.html

Enjoy--while you can!

-- Gerry