Slideshow
I WAS BORN, BUT…
♪ Live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner.
Preceded by The Little Rascals.
Japan, 1932
Directed by Yasujirō Ozu
With Tomio Aoki aka Tokkankozo, Tatsuo Saitō
Approx. 90 min. 35mm.
Two boys — the younger played by Ozu child great “Tokkan Kozō” — go on a hunger strike when they see dad Tatsuo Saitō toadying to his boss. One of the great silent comedies and Ozu’s first Kinema Junpo “Best One” winner.
Reviews
“That it is more a small masterpiece, perfect in design and execution almost goes without saying, but the film’s profundity and its charm go hand in hand.”
– A.O. Scott, The New York Times
“Coming of age, as Ozu shows us, is an experience without clearly identifiable points of origin or closure; it’s meant to be struggled with, argued for and against, debated with, resisted and seduced by, repudiated and advocated for. In I WAS BORN BUT…, it’s an experience that sticks.”
– Ricky D’Ambrose, Slant Magazine
“One of Yasujirō Ozu’s most sublime films”
– Jonathan Rosenbaum, The Chicago Reader
“Funny and devastating… The theme is the title: one is born… then the trouble begins.”
– Donald Richie
“One of cinema’s finest works about children”
– Nick Wrigley, Sense of Cinema