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Scott Nye takes a look at the work of Yasujiro Ozu as the American Cinematheque rolls out a short series of Japanese classics August 24-26, 2017 at the Aero Theatre. Yasujiro Ozu liked to begin his films with outdoor establishing shots: disassociated from the narrative, but a comfortable way to introduce the feeling of his film. Tokyo Story and An Autumn Afternoon , two of his most acclaimed films, are no exception. Ozu and his stalwart cinematographer Yûharu Atsuta chose two very telling images to kick things off. The black-and-white, 1953 film Tokyo Story begins at the seaside town of Onomichi, some 50 miles away from the city of Hiroshima. Our first glimpse is of the Jodo-ji temple, built in the 14th century and seeming to have survived the ruinous bombings of World War II, a testament to endurance and tradition. An Autumn Afternoon , by contrast, is in booming color. It’s 1962, nearly a decade later, and the national mood in Japan is shifting. We begin not at a seaside temple, b...