I Was Born, But ...

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S R Saw it since a Japanese silent comedy seemed rare and to have it by Ozu was enticing. However, it had some touching themes, but it was a bit tedious. It was good to document Japanese culture from the 30s. Saw on TCM. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/27/24 Full Review Matthew B Admirers of Yasujirō Ozu, one of Japan's greatest directors, will certainly enjoy I Was Born, But…They find much that is unexpected in this early Ozu film, possibly the best of Ozu's early silent movies. While the unmarried and childless Ozu has made plenty of films about the gulf between parents and their children, his films usually focus on grown-up children. This time the children Ryoichi (Hideo Sugawara) and Keiji (Tomio Aoki) are schoolboys. Indeed the two boys provide the focus of the movie, which might tempt us to view it as a coming-of-age movie. I think the boys are too young for it to be that exactly. It is at any rate an important moment in their growing up, a crisis in which they will lose some of their childhood illusions. The boys dominate the movie kinetically. They are fine actors, as comically expressive in their body language as in their faces. They are constantly shifting restlessly, sometimes in unison, often out of synch with one another. Either way their movements are marked and draw attention to themselves. That is not to say that this is a children's movie. Ozu said of it, "I started to make a film about children, and ended up with a film about grown-ups". This may explain why he gave the film the secondary title of ‘A Picture Book for Adults'. Nonetheless the more adult concerns of the movie only really take over during the last half hour of the film. This early Ozu film is also notable for its mobile camerawork, something notoriously missing from the mature Ozu movies. In I Was Born, But… the camera often moves. It follows the children around, imitating their lively movements. Ozu applies a fair amount of sharp editing, allowing parallels to be drawn between the world of children and adults. This also provides a chance for plenty of reaction shots, thereby reducing the need for too many intertitles. Later Ozu films are notable for placing the camera at ground level, as if to imitate the position of someone sitting on a tatami mat. Here the camera is sometimes placed lower down to indicate a child's-eye view of the world, and sometimes higher up to offer an adult perspective. Nonetheless the Ozu admirer will find many of the comforting themes and techniques used in his more famous movies. Some of the themes that Ozu will return to in later works include the frustrations of the workplace, and the gulf between the generations. In this case it is the children who will be disappointed with their father, rather than the parents who are disappointed by their children. I wrote a longer appreciation of I Was Born, But... on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2023/07/23/i-was-born-but-1932/ Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/25/23 Full Review william d Director Ozu proves he is adept at comedy as well. In addition to the laughs he captures the essence of what boys are truly like, as well as the poignancy of a father discovering that his sons don't respect him. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member True? probably not. Characters probably allegorical. Description: a couple of boys try and fit in to the local neighbourhood. Have some trouble with a big kid. Culmination- go over to a friends' house, who has a cinema night (prestige). Argue amongst themselves, that their father is not, the dominant male. (resolves) Reaction: quiet. I felt in a hurry for it to resolve at the end. If it is possible not to get into hagiography, but to simply see what is there... Then. Camerawork. Seemed fine. Economy of practice? Acting: silent, so the faces must tell the story. (do) Script: remember Akira Kurasawa's Drunken Angel? The puddle, in the centre of town- it is your abscess! This was more subtle. Music: blended well, I thought. Thank you. (a pause... so I'm not in a hurry.) Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member 7.3/10, my review: https://boxd.it/gFtX3 Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review dustin d This latter-day silent film, Umarete wa mita keredo, is interesting for its prewar Tokyo setting, but it is also interesting to see how little has changed in Japan. This is also attributable to the timeless and universal themes of schoolyard bullies, adult-world politics an hierarchies in human society. Well-crafted and powerful film. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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