Film Review
I Flunked, But... was only the
third in Yasujirô Ozu's series of student comedies but already
you can feel an aura of melancholic realism starting to intrude
into his youthful optimism. The film begins in a similar vein to
Ozu's first student comedy
Days of Youth (1929), with a
cheerful account of college days camaraderie embroidered with Harold
Lloyd-style slapstick. But, by the midpoint, the mood has changed
and the grim realities of life in Depression Era Japan begin to assert
themselves. Getting a university degree proves not to be a
passport to success. Those who manage to pass their exams sink
into despondency after months of futile job hunting, looking in envy on
the idlers who flunked their exams and can continue their carefree
existence within their educational sanctuary, like chicks in an
incubator. This contrasts with Ozu's previous
film,
I Graduated, But... (1929), in
which a degree proves to be a useful thing (in the end). The film anticipates
the more pessimistic tone
of Ozu's subsequent
Where Now Are
the Dreams of Youth? (1932), a class-conscious satire in which
academic achievement proves to be subordinate to one's social standing.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Ozu's cinema in his early years
is the gradual transition from the 'nansensu eiga' or 'nonsense film',
a popular genre that combined satire, slapstick and farce, to the
'shomin-geki' or 'home drama', the domestic melodrama that Japanese
audiences took to in the early 1940s. Even in Ozu's earliest
films there are elements of shomin-geki, and comedy persisted even into
his mature phase, albeit in a far more restrained and subtle
form.
I Flunked, But...
is, arguably, the first of Ozu's films in which this direction
of travel is first apparent, and also the first in which Ozu's
technical and artistic prowess becomes evident. Still
only in mid-twenties, the director shows both skill and ingenuity in
his use of the camera to stress the dramatic and comedic impact of his
scenes. The masterfully orchestrated sequence in which the
students resort to skulduggery in the exam room might easily have come
out of a Harold Lloyd film, and the scenes involving the student hero
Takahasi and the kind-hearted waitress Kinuyo Tanaka (played by Ozu
regulars Tatsuo Saitô and Kinuyo Tanaka) are exquisitely tender,
underplaying the obvious emotional connection between the two
vulnerable characters.
I Flunked, But... is Ozu's
most flagrant tribute to Harold Lloyd, one of the American filmmakers
who was to have most impact on him in his early years. Flags of
American universities adorn the opening credits and the sets in homage
to Lloyd's comic masterpiece
The Freshman (1925), which
offers a similarly idealistic portrait of college life. Takahasi
and his fellow idlers are often seen performing a little dance that is
reminiscent of Lloyd's jig in
The
Freshman, and other references to the film are not hard to
spot. Ozu did not himself attend college (he failed his entrance
exams to study economics at Kobe University) and so it is tempting to
read his student comedies as an attempt to make up for this painful gap
in his life. Takahasi, the hero of
I Flunked, But..., is obviously Ozu
in all but name, a self-portrait of a young man who was always a rebel
at school and was prone to moments of dark introspection.
Takahasi's experiences not only shed some light on Ozu's character but
also lead us to share Ozu's conclusion that the most important thing
about a college education is not the piece of paper you get at the end
of it, but the experience of growing up and making the most of one's
youth, before the harsh realities of life take hold.
© James Travers 2013
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Yasujirô Ozu film:
That Night's Wife (1930)
Film Synopsis
Takahasi spends most of his time in college idling about with his four
friends. When the exams come round, these five devise various
schemes to cheat their way to success, including writing notes on their
shirts. The plan backfires when Takahasi's shirt gets sent to the
cleaners by mistake. Whilst his more studious roommates all pass
their exams, Takahasi fails and must suffer the humiliation of staying
in college for another year. As his roommates fail to find work,
Takahasi has the last laugh...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.