I Was Born, But… (part of Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies – Eclipse Series #10) (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

Another fantastic family driven silent film by Yasujiro Ozu.  The 1932 film “I Was Born, But…” is an excellent film that depicts childhood bullying, family, career and relationship between parents and children.  An effective story that works well for this silent film due to its talent, acting and editing. One of the three fantastic silent films included in “Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies – Eclipse Series #10″ from The Criterion Collection. Definitely recommended!

Image courtesy of © 1932 Shochiku Co., Ltd. 2008 The Criterion Collection. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: I Was Born, But… (part of Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies – Eclipse Series #10)

DURATION: 90 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Black and White, Silent with optional score, Japanese Intertitles with Optional English Subtitles, 1:33:1 Aspect Ratio

COMPANY: The Criterion Collection

RELEASED: 2008

Directed by Yasujiro Ozu

Adaptation by Akira Fushimi

Scenario by Akira Fushimi

Music by Donald Sosin

Cinematography by Hideo Shigehara

Edited by Hideo Shigahara

Art Direction by Yoshiro Kimura, Takejiro Tsunoda

Starring:

Tatsuo Saito as Chichi (father – Yoshi-san)

Mitsuko Yoshikawa as Haha (Yoshi’s Wife)

Hideo Sugawara as Ryoichi (older brother)

Tomio Aoki as Keiji (younger brother)

Takeshi Sakamoto as Juuyaku (Iwasaki, Executive)

Teruyo Hayami as Fuji (Iwasaki’s Wife)

Seiichi Kato as Kodomo (Taro)

Shoichi Kofujita as Kozou (Delivery Boy)

Seiji Nishimura as Sensei (Teacher)

Zentaro Iijima, Shotaro Fujimatsu, Masao Hayama, Michio Sato, Kuniyasu Hayashi, Akio Nomura, Teruaki Ishiwatari as The Boys in the neighborhood

One of Ozu’s most popular films, I Was Born, But . . . is a blithe portrait of the financial and psychological toils of one family, as told from the rascally point of view of a couple of stubborn little boys. For two brothers, the daily struggles of bullies and mean teachers is nothing next to the mortification they feel when they realize their good-natured father’s low-rung social status. Reworked decades later as Ozu’s Technicolor comedy Good Morning, it’s a poignant evocation of the tumult of childhood, as well as a showcase for Ozu’s expertly timed comedy editing.

Yasujiro Ozu is one of the world’s beloved directors. Having made many films since the 1920′s up to his final film “An Autumn Afternoon” in 1962, his works have been appreciated by viewers and critics for his family comedies but also his serious family storylines such as “Late Spring”, “Early Summer” and “Tokyo Story” (to name a few).

The Criterion Collection has been one of the major forces in America of bringing Ozu’s films stateside and not just the popular films, Criterion Collection has now offered a few of his silent films and late films through their Eclipse Series line with “Silent Ozu-Three Family Comedies” and “Late Ozu”.  Although not receiving the Criterion digital remastering or restoration (nor do they include special features), the fact that Ozu fans can now watch these classics with English subtitles is fantastic.  And also, the silents include an optional score by Donald Sosin (a pianist known for his work for silent film scores).

I recently started started my viewing of “Silent Ozu – Three Family Comedies” and absolutely enjoyed “Tokyo Chorus”, this time around, I watched  “I Was Born, But…” (a.k.a “Otona no miru ehon – Umarete wa mita keredo”).   The Eclipse Series #10 box set also includes two other Ozu silent films “Tokyo Chorus” from 1931 and “Passing Fancy” from 1933.

As for “I Was Born, But…”, the film was Ozu’s 24th film and the first of his six films to win a Kinema Junpo Critics Prize.  The film received a loosely made remake in Technicolor by Ozi for the 1959 film “Good Morning” and is regarded as his most popular silent film that continually received circulation since its release.

“I Was Born, But…” focuses on a family from Azabu who has moved to a new home in the Tokyo suburbs.  The Yoshi family which include the two parents – Kennosuke (played by Tatsuo Saito) and his wife (played by Mitsuko Yoshikawa), the older son Ryoichi (played by Hideo Sugawara), young son Keiji (played by Tomio Aoki) and their dog.

Life in a new neighborhood is not easy for the children as Keiji quickly learns when the neighborhood kids start picking on him.  Keiji quickly goes to his brother Ryoichi and tells him how the kids stole his toy and his bread and immediately Ryoichi goes to confront the children but he is outnumbered and the worst part is one of the neighborhood kids is taller and a little older.  And thus, Ryoichi loses the fight.

To make things worst is the kids keep showing up at their front yard taunting both Ryoichi and Keiji and now both fear of going to school as they worry about being bullied.  So, for the first week of school, they lie to their parents and pretend they are attending school while the truth is they just sit and have fun at a nearby field.  Eventually, their father finds out from their teacher that they haven’t showed up to school which angers their father.  Their father continually reminds them that if they can go to school and study hard like he did, they can make something of themselves.

As time passes, eventually things get better for the boys, especially as Ryoichi and Keiji start becoming the toughest in the neighborhood but when they start getting into the discussion of who’s father is better, both brothers don’t understand why their father does everything Taro’s father tells him.

The kids realize for the first time that Taro’s father is much more powerful in status than their father and he is an executive of the company that their father works at and his father is just an employee.

For a child’s perspective, specifically for Ryoichi and Keiji, where they have always thought their father was strong and smart because he went to school and received good grades, Ryoichi can’t bare the thought that their father has a weaker professional status than Taro’s father and is disgusted by that.  There is no way Ryoichi would allow Taro to be the boss of him and so, he can’t understand how his father would let Taro’s father be the boss of him.

“I Was Born, But…” continues Ozu’s well-known storylines of focusing on the Japanese family and in 1932, for a film that would seem complex to cover for a silent film, Ozu successfully pulls it off with good storytelling through actions and emotions and definitely is another wonderful film to be included in this Eclipse Series set.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“I Was Born, But…” is featured in 1:33:1 aspect ratio. The film is black and white and as mentioned earlier, Eclipse series are films that do not receive the CRITERION COLLECTION treatment of restoration and remastering. Thus, the scratches and slight warping of the original film are very visible. The good news is that the film, despite being nearly 80 years old is still watchable and are very enjoyable.

As for audio, this is a silent film but there is an option to have a piano score played by Donald Sosin play throughout the film.   Similar to “Tokyo Chorus”, Sosin does  a fantastic job, as the piano score actually does work with this film and fits the mood throughout the entire film.

Subtitles are in English and are shown during scenes after a dialogue and shows the Japanese intertitles.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Eclipse Series DVD’s unfortunately do not come with any special features. But with each DVD, there is a single page information (on the interior DVD cover which can be read since the DVD slim cases are clear) on the film.

When it comes to Ozu’s silent films, “I Was Born, But…” is among Yasujiro Ozu’s most popular and is the earliest Ozu print in regular circulation.  As mentioned earlier, Ozu successfully pulls of this film that could be seen as complex but with good pacing, storytelling and acting, are we convinced of the relationships between brothers and family as well as the fear the kids have towards the bullying neighborhood kids.  And even nearly 80 years later, this storyline continues to be prevalent today as many families are no different today than how the Yoshi family are in this film.

The film was loosely remade in 1959 for Ozu’s “Good Morning” but as their are similarities, both films are quite different from each other.  In “I Was Born, But…”, the children are quick to confront their father about his career situation and what makes it so stingily hurt is that the father knows that the children are right.  Even if you give your all in school, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be a high level executive and there is this strong connection with the children in this film (especially since television or major technology is not in the forefront of the film).  Whereas in “Good Morning”, the two sons confront their father that other kids own a television set except them and the kids go on a hunger strike to get their parents to recognize their anger.  There is still a family connection but you notice that in “Good Morning”, technology has started to seep into the family culture and you see the children more drawn towards the television set away from their family.   So, both films do have its similarities but also their differences especially of suburban Japan within that 27-year time span.

But what is most interesting is that for Ozu cinema fans, we know how he takes the concept of family especially between parent and children so seriously during the 1950′s and later, so to see something that happened decades earlier in silent form and see where it first started, for fans is quite a treat.  Where in his later films, the dialogue is quite important to feel the pain between parents and children, even in these silent films, surprisingly the viewer can feel the sting through the children’s harsh words to their father.

This is the second of the three silent films that I have watched in this set thus far and both “I Was Born, But…” and “Tokyo Chorus” have been nothing but excellent.  If you are a Yasujiro Ozu fan or curious about Japanese silent films, “Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies – Eclipse Series #10″ is an excellent set worth owning!

Tokyo Chorus (part of Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies – Eclipse Series #10) (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

A silent Yasujiro Ozu film from 1931 that is relevant today as it was then.  An educated father who is unemployed, trying to make ends meet and provide for his family.  One of the fantastic silent films included in “Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies – Eclipse Series #10″ from The Criterion Collection.  Definitely recommended!

Image courtesy of © 1931 Shochiku Co., Ltd.  2008 The Criterion Collection. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Tokyo Chorus (Part of Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies – Eclipse Series #10)

DURATION: 90 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Black and White, Silent with optional score, Japanese Intertitles with Optional English Subtitles, 1:33:1 Aspect Ratio

COMPANY: The Criterion Collection

RELEASED: 2008

Directed by Yasujiro Ozu

Adaptation and Story by Komatsu Kitamura and Kogo Noda

Screenplay by Kogo Noda

Cinematography by Hideo Shigehara

Edited by Hideo Shigehara

Set Decoration by Minzo Kakuta, Tsunetaro Kawasaki, Beijiro Tanaka, Yonekazu Wakita

Costume Design by Kurenai Saitou

Makeup Department: Iyono Kikuchi

Starring:

Tokihiko Okada as Shinji Okajima

Emiko Yagumo as Tsuma Sugako (wife)

Hideo Sugawara as Sono Chounana (son)

Hideko Takamine  as Sono Choujo (daughter)

Tatsuo Saito – Omura Sensei

Choko Iida – Sensei no Tusma (Mrs. Omura)

Takeshi Sakamoto – Rou-Shain Yamada (old employee)

Reiko Tani – Shachou (boss)

Combining three prevalent genres of the day—the student comedy, the salaryman film, and the domestic drama—Ozu created this warmhearted family comedy, and demonstrated that he was truly coming into his own as a cinema craftsman. The setup is simple: Low wage–earning dad Okajima is depending on his bonus, and so are his wife and children, yet payday doesn’t exactly go as planned. Exquisite and economical, Ozu’s film alternates between brilliantly mounted comic sequences and heartrending working-class realities.

Yasujiro Ozu is one of the world’s beloved directors.  Having made many films since the 1920′s up to his final film “An Autumn Afternoon” in 1962, his works have been appreciated by viewers and critics for his family comedies but also his serious family storylines such as “Late Spring”, “Early Summer” and “Tokyo Story” (to name a few).

The Criterion Collection has been one of the major forces in America of bringing Ozu’s films stateside and not just the popular films, Criterion Collection has now offered a few of his silent films and late films through their Eclipse Series line with “Silent Ozu-Three Family Comedies” and “Late Ozu”.  Although not receiving the Criterion digital remastering or restoration (nor do they include special features), the fact that Ozu fans can now watch these classics with English subtitles is fantastic.

I recently started started my viewing of “Silent Ozu – Three Family Comedies”, starting with “Tokyo Chorus” (Tokyo no Korasu) which was released in 1931.  The box set also includes two other films “I was Born, But” (Umarete wa mita keredo) from 1932 and “Passing Fancy” (Dekigokoro) from 1933.

As for “Tokyo Chorus”, Ozu’s 22nd film is considered to be a turning point in the career of Yasujiro Ozu as the film would feature his mature style.

“Tokyo Chorus” is a comedy/drama black and white silent film about Shinji Okajima (played by Tokihiko Okada).  The film kicks off with Shinji as a teenager, and we get to see how he was a rebellious teen when it came to his relation with his teacher, Omura sensei (played by Tatsuo Saito).

And then we are taken to his present family life in which he has a loving wife Sugako (played by Emiko Yaguma) and three children which includes his son (Hideko Sugawara), his daughter Miyoko (Hideko Takamine)  and a baby. His son has wanted a bike but his parents have not bought him one (Shinji is not exactly making much money at his insurance sales job).  But with his father’s bonus coming up, Sugako tells her son that possibly Shinji can finally buy his son a bike and Shinji promises that he will.

While at work, everyone is getting their bonus (and trying to snoop and find out how much everyone else has made) but Shinji finds out that one of the employees (played by Isamu Yamaguchi) is being fired because of his age (and that the people he’s sold life insurance to have died not long after he sold it to them).  Shinji is upset that the man is getting fired and decides to argue the situation with the company president (played by Reiko Tani) and because of that, Shinji ends up being the one getting fired.

On the day that Shinji’s son has bragged to his friends that he is getting a bike, his father shows up with a scooter instead.  Upset with his father for breaking his promise, his son sulks and starts acting bad in which his father disciplines him with multiple spankings.

When Sugako arrives, she is shocked that her son is crying but more shocked that Shinji is now unemployed.  But Shinji, a man of honor decides to buy his son a bike as he had promised but then we see time passing by and Shinji, an educated man being too overqualified for jobs and is unable to find work.

We see the Okajima family struggling but then complications hit the family when one of the children is very ill.  With no money, what will Shinji do in order to make sure his child gets proper medical care?  And will he be able to find a paying job before its too late?

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Tokyo Chorus” is featured in 1:33:1 aspect ratio.  The film is black and white and as mentioned earlier, Eclipse series are films that do not receive the CRITERION COLLECTION restoration and remastering.  Thus, the scratches and slight warping of the original film are very visible.  The good news is that the film, despite being nearly 80 years old is still watchable and very enjoyable.

As for audio, this is a silent film but there is an option to have a piano score played by Donald Sosin play throughout the film.  And the piano score actually does work and fits the mood of the entire film.  But I do wonder how the original musical score for the film was but not sure if a live orchestra was played during the theatrical screening of the film.

Subtitles are in English and are shown during scenes after a dialogue and shows the Japanese intertitles.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Eclipse Series DVD’s unfortunately do not come with any special features.  But with each DVD, there is a single page information (on the interior DVD cover which can be read since the DVD slim cases are clear) on the film.

“Tokyo Chorus” is my first classic Japanese silent film and the fact that it was directed by Yasujiro Ozu made me want to purchase the “Silent Ozu – Three Family Comedies” box set.  And as expected, even for a silent film, Ozu is able to capture the Japanese family life including the quirks.  For example, in one scene, his son who tends to fight with his sister is seen hitting her in the head and she starts crying.  Or another scene in which the son tries to climb a clothes shelf and when Shinji comes to pull him off, his records fall down and break.

Because these films were silent, it was so important to communicate visually with the audience and with the son’s antics and his wife’s facial expressions, you don’t need any dialogue to understand what is going on in the film.   The way the characters are shot, the emotions they bring to the camera and just the overall pacing of the film is done wonderfully.

Kids are behaving like kids and the parents, played by Tokihiko Okada and Emiko Yaguma do a great job communicating their happiness, sadness and frustrations.

Overall, a wonderful film that is part of the “Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies – Eclipse Series #10″.  I definitely look forward to watching the next two silent films in the collection.  If you are a big fan of Yasujiro Ozu’s work and have wanted to see his silent work, definitely give this box set a try!