mandolinian viewed from a tatami...

recently found this rppc from around 1910. i love the odd low camera angle... as if ozu shot hillbilly films.

"In addition to being motionless in his later work, Ozu's camera—from early in his career—was often placed at a very low level as if the viewer were sat crosslegged. It has been noted that this is at the same level one sits on tatami for a tea ceremony in a Japanese home, or while meditating, sitting in silence, observing, reaching meaning through extreme simplificaton. It is also the height Ozu had to position his camera when making a film about children, and it is said he liked it so much that he stuck with it. Ozu clearly had many reasons for adopting such a low position for his camera and it became one of the few facets of his pared down technique." more here.

i like the notion that somehow because of the angle, perhaps, this mandolin player is similarly "meditating, sitting in silence, observing, reaching meaning through extreme simplification"; by simply sitting down and playing some music.