Japan's Three Gifts

Three masters, three distinct gifts:

• Kurosawa: action works best when earned by patient character work
• Ozu: ordinary life, filmed with stillness, is the deepest subject
• Miyazaki: breathing spaces make a world feel alive

The common thread is respect for time and attention. Western cinema often assumes audiences need constant stimulation; Japanese masters assume they need space to feel. Both shape entirely different kinds of cinema.