Otona no Miru Ehon - Umarete wa Mita Keredo
1932 / 100m - Japan
Comedy, Drama
1.5*/5.0*
I Was Born, But... poster

Watches

October 04, 2021

1.5*/5.0*

I haven't seen too many Ozu films, certainly not his older/silent work, still this felt very much like a very typical Ozu production. The young protagonists, the focus on lighter slice of life segments and some smaller but poignant drama scenes seem to characterize his most famous work.

The film follows two young brothers around. They do the stuff young kids do, including looking up to their father, who likes to boast about his position in society. Their dream in shattered when one day they follow their father to his work, discovering that he is regularly made a fool of by his boss.

The lightness and the charm of the main characters makes this a pretty easy watch, on the other hand I didn't find a lot to actually care about. Stylistically it's very functional, the soundtrack is quite boring, while the drama isn't very memorable. Fans of silent cinema will get more out of this one, I on the other hand am pretty sure I prefer Ozu's later work, even though it's certainly not the worst silent I've seen.