by Jeremy Meckler
This review is our fourth entry in the Joyless Canon—our 100 favorite movies, from enshrined classics to guilty pleasures to left-field oddities, which (we hope) define our personalities as film-lovers. Every few weeks, we’ll analyze another of our canonical entries in-depth. Check out our Index page for other Joyless Canon (JC) selections.
This review is our fourth entry in the Joyless Canon—our 100 favorite movies, from enshrined classics to guilty pleasures to left-field oddities, which (we hope) define our personalities as film-lovers. Every few weeks, we’ll analyze another of our canonical entries in-depth. Check out our Index page for other Joyless Canon (JC) selections.
The film begins with the Yoshi family moving to a new town. The boys, Ryoichi (Hideo Sugawara, the older brother) and Keiju (Tomio Aoki, the younger) watch with a mix of awe and boredom as their father takes off his suit jacket to help push the moving truck out of the mud. The shots are the low-angles that are so prevalent in Ozu’s films, but while on the whole these are known as “tatami shots”—named for the tatami mat flooring in traditional Japanese architecture—they feel here as if they have more to do with portraying Ryoichi and Keiju’s perspectives. The world as visualized from this position is alien and abstract, so that we—like the Yoshi boys—feel a sense of lackadaisical whimsy. It’s interesting to watch Dad move the truck, but there’s no sense of urgency or direction.Yasujiro Ozu’s silent parable begins with a simple title card reading “A Picture Book for Grownups.” And really, more than any of his other films, I Was Born, But… does adopt a child’s perspective.