Ozu’s camera

It’s been said that Ozu characteristically shoots his indoor scenes, most particularly conversations, from the point of view of a person sitting on tatami (bamboo matting), the so-called tatami shot.. This called for a specially mounted camera, as shown in this extract from Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-Ga.

Immediately one sees that the tatami shot is not a point-of-view shot at all, as can be seen in this photo of Ozu behind his camera.

The camera looks from the level of the solar plexus.  Now look at  frame from a typical tatami shot.

Even if the subject is clearly talking to someone seated in the camera position, the eye-line is higher, presumably looking at the face of the other.  If the eye-line was level, we would be pushed by eye-contact into identifying with the other.  Instead we can focus freely on the speaker – what he says, how he sits, how he moves.  The shot permits contemplation without distanciation.  Which is a fair definition of Ozu’s cinema.