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Black
and White . 72 minutes
Shochiku Ofuna Studio
Written By
Ozu Yasujiro
Ikeda Tadao
Cinematography
Atsuta Yuharu
Music By
Saito Ichiro
Cast
Iida Choko (Otane)
Aoki Hohi (Kohe)
Ozawa Eitaro (Father)
Yoshikawa Mitsuko (Kikuko)
Kawamura Sokichi (Tamekichi)
Mimura Hideko (Ukiko)
Ryu Chishu (Tashiro)
Sakamoto Takeshi (Kihachi)
Takamatsu Eiko (Tome)
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Synopsis
Tashiro the fortune-teller packs up a stray boy
and foists him on his widowed neighbor Otane.
She treats the sulky bed-wetter as a nuisance.
She takes him back to his original place of residence,
but is told his father has packer up and gone.
Over a few incidents, the boy gradually cracks
open her hard shell and even restores community
spirit to the neighborhood. Just when Otane is
ready to adopt him, his father, who has lost him
in a crowd, turns up for him. Otane decides to
adopt one of the many homeless boys who hang out
near Saigo's statue in Ueno park.
Thoughts from Ozu
I was zapped out after returning from the
war, but the company kept pestering me to get
down to work. I had no choice but to churn out
a script in 12 days. To my surprise, the company's
response was: "Who would have thought
you can write scripts so quickly?" I
quickly replied, "Just this once. I wouldn't
be able to write at this speed next time."
To tell you the truth, I saw more foreign films
that any other time in my life while I was stationed
in Singapore. It seems that some people think
that I have been transformed by the experience.
The same people however said that Record of
a Tenement Gentleman is no different from
my previous works. They even went as far as to
say "this fellow never changes."
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Background
The
40th film, shot from March to May 1947. In 1942,
the Army Information Office of the Imperial Headquarters
commissioned the three feature film production
companies that existed at that time (Shochiku,
Toho, and Daiei), to make one war documentary
each. Ozu, who had just finished There Was
a Father became in charge of the Shochiku
part. Together with Akiyama Kosaku and Saito Ryosuke,
he wrote the screenplay for Far-Away Country
of My Parents (Haruka nari fubo no kuni).
However, its story being far from uplifting the
fighting spirit, the production did not start.
While the fate of this documentary was still undecided,
another film for the Indian National Army was
planned, and to this purpose. Ozu went to Singapore
(under Japanese occupation) in June 1943, living
there quite leisurely. After the defeat, he returned
to Japan. His mother had evacuated to Noda in
China prefecture, where his sister lived. Ozu
too settled down there. From then on, Ozu never
live din Tokyo again. After one year of recreation
(his actions during this time are unclear), Ozu
teamed up again with Ikeda Tadao for his first
film after the war. The screenplay of Record
of a Tenement Gentleman was finished within
two weeks. (Ozu wanted to use this title previously
for Passing Fancy). Ozu returned to the
familiar shitamachi community of Tokyo in this
film. However, he ought to know since the pre-war
time that this land is not a blessed one. The
actual choice shows his deep feelings of having
lost something. This part of town was burnt to
the ground during the big Tokyo air raids at the
end of the war. Almost the whole film was shot
in the studio. Probably, this made-up world was
the reason for Ozu's growing dissatisfaction during
the one month between the completion of the screenplay
and the beginning of the shooting. From the group
of eminent supporting actors, essential to the
Kamata and Ofana style, Ida Choko and Yoshikawa
Mitsuko had already left the Ofana studio. This
double disappearance of the shitamachi character
and of a certain Kamata-Ofuna style may have deepened
Ozu's feeling of loss. However, to transmit this
personal feeling, the invented world must seem
authentic. This was achieved by an extremely real
story. On the other hand, there seems to be an
influence of the director Shimizu Hiroshi who
was just about to start the shooting of the film
Children of the Beehive (Hachi no su
no kodomotachi, 1948), depicting war orphans.
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Personal
Thoughts and Comments
Record of a Tenement Gentleman is Ozu's
first postwar film (made five years after his
previous film There Was a Father). Overall
it is a simple, lighthearted comedy yet is also
a touching, personal, bittersweet and even distanced
film. Distanced in the sense that Ozu pushes away
the any forced manipulation of emotions through
his simplistic style. The story of an abandoned
boy in postwar Japan who grows a relationship
with a cynical middle-aged woman could have easily
been one of forced emotional impact. Yet through
Ozu, it is restrained and ultimately more poetic
and effective. Ultimately the film becomes a moving
and hopeful film of the human condition against
the tragic backdrop of war. Despite the ruins
of a postwar Japan, the film leaves a sense of
hope for humanity and for recovery (both in relationship
of the family and of Japan). Not a masterpiece,
but an excellent film in the very capable hands
of Ozu.
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