The possibility of an ‘Us’: Yasujiro Ozu’s legacy in Alain Gomis’ cinema

This chapter offers a comparative study of the work of Franco-Senegalese filmmaker Alain Gomis and Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu in order to examine the legacy of the latter and how this may be reflected in Gomis’ four, first feature-length films, L’Afrance/As a Man (2001) and Andalucia/ Andalusia (2007), Tey/ Today (2012) and Félicité (2017). These films by Gomis are put in conversation with three films by Yasujiro Ozu: I Was Born But … (Umarete wa mita keredo, 1932); the latter’s remake in colour over two decades afterwards, Good Morning (Ohayō, 1959); and Tokyo Story (Tōkyō Monogatari, 1953). Through our conversation – bringing our respective knowledge of Senegalese and Japanese cinema to bear on our analysis – we try to imagine a cinematic ‘us’ that extends the world of onscreen homes and their inhabitants from a local level to a more global ‘screen world’. What follows is a dialogical piece, which explores the legacy of Ozu’s work in Gomis’ cinema, not as a mere souvenir or initial encounter, but rather as an ever-present influence in his work, and the relation between film characters and the spaces in which they dwell, as Figure 10.1 creatively implies. We focus on three main dimensions: the aesthetics, themes and tone of both filmmakers. In the process we will also uncover a further quality, beneath the surface, that can be traced as a form of clear cinematic lineage, from Japan, to France, Senegal and, by extension, the world.