Yasujirô Ozu - I Was Born, But . . . (1932)

I Was Born, But... (1932)

Otona no miru ehon - Umarete wa mita keredo (original title)

1h 40min | Silent B&W Comedy, Drama | 3 June 1932 (Japan)
Director: Yasujirô Ozu
Stars: Tatsuo Saitô, Tomio Aoki, Mitsuko Yoshikawa

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 realise 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.

For Japanese audiences of 1932, stories of the so-called “salaryman” were of particular interest, and in this general form, Ozu began to implement the formal and narrative strategies that eventually forged his signature blend of stately familial conflict tinged with a dash of humanistic humour. As an emblematic example, I Was Born, But… essentially revolves around brothers Keiji (Tomio Aoki), the youngest, and Ryoichi (and Hideo Sugawara), slightly older. Their businessman father, Yoshi, played by Tatsuo Saitō, just moved the family to the Tokyo suburbs and has started a new job working for executive Iwasaki (Takeshi Sakamoto). While Yoshi does his best to ingratiate himself with the boss, the boys struggle with their disinterest in school and their disposal to local bullies keen to tease the new kids in town. Among these ruffians is mischievous Taro (Seiichi Kato), who happens to be the son of Iwasaki. This sets up a multi-pronged skirmish, where the boys butt heads over acts of childish cruelty — stealing toys and food — and are at the same time exposed, in their curious, naïve way, to the more existential concerns regarding individual worth and one’s place in a socioeconomic hierarchy.

Ozu said he started to make a film about children, but ended up with a film about adults (an opening title card alludes to the duality of its age application by dubbing the movie a “picture book for grown-ups”). Such a conclusion is not wholly accurate, though. This is a film very much inspired by the ideals and insights of children. That may in turn lead to its more adult implications and equivalents, but its central focus and primary emotional thrust depends on the portrayal of children and their own complex struggles. Keiji, Ryoichi, Taro and the others are at a precarious crossroads in their young lives. While these boys are still utterly dependent on their parents (one youngster walks around with a sign on his back reading “Upset tummy. Please don’t feed him anything”), they also want to assert their own dominance, usually in conventionally masculine feats and feigned assertions of strength (absurdly attaining power by consuming the yolk of a sparrow egg, for example, or by affecting an embellished tough-guy posture).

When Yoshi scolds his sons for skipping school and forging their homework, he reproaches them by asserting the overriding question of I Was Born, But…: “Don’t you want to be somebody?” Of course they do, but how? And what exactly makes a person “somebody”?