Film Forum

I WAS BORN, BUT…
Japan, 1932
Directed by Yasujirō Ozu
With Tomio Aoki aka Tokkan Kozō, 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.

– With –

A STRAIGHTFORWARD BOY (Fragment of a short)
Japan, 1929
Directed by Yasujirō Ozu
With Tomio Aoki aka Tokkan Kozō, Tatsuo Saitō
Approx. 14 min. 35mm.

Reviews

On I WAS BORN, BUT...
“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