I was born but - I was born but

A Japanese film produced by Shochiku in 1932 (Showa 7), directed by Ozu Yasujiro. If you include the title, the title is "Adults' Picture Book: Born But I Tried It." It is the story of a salaryman's family who moved from the center of Tokyo to the suburbs. The salaryman father (Saito Tatsuo, 1902-1968) tries his best to please his boss (Sakamoto Takeshi, 1899-1974) who lives nearby, but his two elementary school-aged sons (older brother Sugawara Hideo and younger brother Tokkan Kozo (real name Aoki Tomio, 1923-2004)) are the local bullies, and even the boss's sons follow them. However, at a screening of home movies held at the boss's house, the father is shown sucking up to the people in the office. The two sons are outraged and harshly criticize their father. This is a representative work of the popular 1930s petty-citizen films that depicted the lives and sorrows of petty-citizens such as office workers, and it is also the work that solidified Ozu's reputation during the silent film era. In addition to the elegant moving shots not seen in Ozu's later works, the film also features Ozu's distinctive compositions in which siblings and parents and children make the same movements, and through the excellent performances of the talented actors and child actors familiar from Ozu's films, it is a bittersweet comedy that sharply points out the universal contradictions of adult society from the perspective of a mischievous child.

[Mika Tomita]

"Reading Ozu Yasujiro - A Beautiful Restoration of the Old" (1982), edited and published by Film Art Company ; "Ozu Yasujiro in His Young Days" by Nakamura Hiroo (2000, Kinema Junposha) ; "Ozu Yasujiro and the Art of Film" by Kida Sho (2001, Heibonsha); "Towards Ozu Yasujiro - A Study of the History of Modernist Film" by Tanaka Masumi (2002, Misuzu Shobo) ; "The Complete Works of Ozu Yasujiro" edited by Inoue Kazuo (2003, Shinshokan) ; "Ozu Yasujiro - The Poetics of Film" by David Bordwell, translated by Sugiyama Akio, new edition (2003, Seidosha) ; "Ozu Yasujiro Shuyu" by Tanaka Masumi (2003, Bungeishunju); " The Director's Notebook" by Hasumi Shigehiko "Ozu Yasujiro," Revised and Definitive Edition (2003, Chikuma Shobo)" ▽ "Ozu Yasujiro Film Reader -- "Tokyo" and "Family," edited and published by Shochiku Video Rights Office (2003, Film Art Publishing)" ▽ "Ozu Yasujiro and the 20th Century," written by Chiba Nobuo (2003, Kokusho Kankokai)" ▽ "Family Portraits -- Home Dramas and Melodramas," edited by Iwamoto Kenji (2007, Morihashisha)" ▽ "Japan Modern -- Japanese Film of the 1920s and 1930s," written by Mitsuyo Wada Marciano (2009, Nagoya University Press)" ▽ "The Complete Art of Ozu Yasujiro," written by Sato Tadao (Asahi Bunko)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

日本映画。1932年（昭和7）、小津安二郎(おづやすじろう)監督、松竹作品。表題に付された角書(つのがき)を含めると『大人の見る繪本(えほん)　生れてはみたけれど』。東京の中心地から郊外へ引っ越してきたサラリーマン一家の物語。サラリーマンの父親（斎藤達雄(さいとうたつお)、1902―1968）は、近所に住む上司（坂本武(さかもとたけし)、1899―1974）の機嫌取りに精をだすが、小学生の息子二人（兄・菅原秀雄、弟・突貫小僧(とっかんこぞう)（本名青木富夫(あおきとみお)、1923―2004））は上司の息子も従えて、町内のガキ大将におさまった。ところが上司の家で開かれたホーム・ムービーの上映会で、社内でへつらう父親の姿が映される。息子二人は憤慨し、父親を激しく批難する。1930年代にサラリーマンら小市民の生活や悲哀を描いて流行した小市民映画の代表作であり、無声映画期に小津安二郎の評価を決定づけた作品でもある。後年の小津作品にはみられない流麗な移動撮影に加え、兄弟や親子が同じ動作をする小津特有の構図や、小津映画におなじみの芸達者な俳優および子役陣の好演を通して、やんちゃな子どもの視点から大人社会の普遍的な矛盾を鋭く突いた、ほろ苦い喜劇に仕上がっている。

［冨田美香］

『フィルムアート社編・刊『小津安二郎を読む――古きものの美しい復権』（1982）』▽『中村博男著『若き日の小津安二郎』（2000・キネマ旬報社）』▽『貴田庄著『小津安二郎と映画術』（2001・平凡社）』▽『田中眞澄著『小津安二郎のほうへ――モダニズム映画史論』（2002・みすず書房）』▽『井上和男編『小津安二郎全集』（2003・新書館）』▽『デヴィッド・ボードウェル著、杉山昭夫訳『小津安二郎――映画の詩学』新装版（2003・青土社）』▽『田中眞澄著『小津安二郎周游』（2003・文芸春秋）』▽『蓮實重彦著『監督　小津安二郎』増補決定版（2003・筑摩書房）』▽『松竹映像版権室編・刊『小津安二郎映畫讀本――「東京」そして「家族」』（2003・フィルムアート社発売）』▽『千葉伸夫著『小津安二郎と20世紀』（2003・国書刊行会）』▽『岩本憲児編『家族の肖像――ホームドラマとメロドラマ』（2007・森話社）』▽『ミツヨ・ワダ・マルシアーノ著『ニッポン・モダン――日本映画1920・30年代』（2009・名古屋大学出版会）』▽『佐藤忠男著『完本　小津安二郎の芸術』（朝日文庫）』

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