I Was Born, But...

A multifaceted silent classic from 1932, Yasujiro Ozu's I Was Born, But...is foremost a family comedy; a "pop up book for grown-ups" as the opening title reads. Much of the exterior footage of young boys getting into hijinks on vacant lots will remind American oldsters of the Our Gang or Little Rascals shorts. There is prepubescent smoking, hunts for sparrows eggs, pinky swears, playing hooky and, something not seen in American comedies of the era, public urination. Despite the underlying themes of class consciousness and modernization, I was Born, But... is chiefly memorable for its depiction of young boys at liberty making mischief. There is an anarchic spirit to the film that is rare in Japanese cinema.

Ozu was, in 1932, a young and energetic filmmaker. His use here of exterior tracking shots would be anathema to the older, more austere Ozu. As with other masters of film whose career spanned decades (Renoir, Ford, Mizoguchi, Lang, Hawks, etc.), things were lost and gained through the years. Renoir's Toni is often cited as the first neorealist feature, but I Was Born, But... could also be cited; as could The Musketeers of Pig Alley for chrissakes. The vagaries of capitalism has lead to the family's recent move. The two young sons react to the change of surroundings by acting out. By film's end, they are reconciled with their family and fully integrated with their peer group. The totems of Japanese modernism: electric plants, commuter trains, automobiles, are omnipresent. As is the specter of poverty and the rigidity of the culture. I Was Born, But... chafes against that rigidity, but it is a note of ominous foreboding that the two young boys want to be generals when they grow up. 

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