“In order to find reality, each must search for his own universe, look for the details that contribute to this reality7 that one feels under the surface of things.”

The great appeal of film is its relatability.

Human beings share the same common problems. A film can only be understood if it depicts these properly.

A film made in this spirit reveals the hearts of the crew.

It is the power of memory that gives rise to the power of imagination.

There is something that might be called cinematic beauty. It can only be expressed in a film, and it must be present for that film to be a moving work.

One of techniques of modern art is simplification, and that I must therefore simplify this film.

It is to make it nurture and grow that I write my script- it is directing it that makes my tree blossom and bear fruit.

I believe that it is this quality that draws people to come and see a film, and that it is the hope of attaining this quality that inspires the filmmaker to make his film in the first place.

If you want to be a great director, be a great screenwriter.

I am not a special person, I am not especially strong; I am not especially gifted.

I believe this is what the medieval Noh playwright and theorist Zeami meant by ‘watching with a detached gaze.’

During the shooting of a scene the director’s eye has to catch even the minutest detail. But this does not mean glaring concentratedly at the set.

I have no idea who the characters are, later, their personalities take over anything I might want to do.

Movie directors, or should I say people who create things, are very greedy and they can never be satisfied… That’s why they can keep on working.

For me, filmmaking combines everything. That’s the reason I’ve made cinema my life’s work. In films, painting and literature, theatre and music come together. But a film is still a film.

If I were to write anything at all, it would turn out to be nothing but talk about movies. In other words, take ‘myself,’ subtract ‘movies,’ and the result is ‘zero.’

The intricate engraving, fine lines, beading and milgrain accents echo an era defined by elaborate embellishments.

Every central government worships uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an infinity of details.

Greatness, it’s all in the details.

I’m very into details, so I watch movies just for the details.

Devil is in the details.

When people ask about us now I say we are strangers but not the kind you may think we just happen to be strangers who know every mundane detail about each other.

You breathe, you love, you feel – and that’s enough to learn to see beauty in details. Is it not an art of living to create happiness where it does not exist?

Men who wish to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details.