Eclipse Series 10 - Silent Ozu-Three Family Comedies (Tokyo Chorus, I Was Born But..., Passing Fancy) (Criterion Collection)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Silent Ozu-Three Family ComediesBrand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Box set, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Silent, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 280 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-04-22
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion Collection
Movie Reviews of Eclipse Series 10 - Silent Ozu-Three Family Comedies (Tokyo Chorus, I Was Born But..., Passing Fancy) (Criterion Collection)
Movie Review: A delightful glimpse into silent Japan
Summary: 5 Stars
After receiving high acclaim for his special cinematic style in directing movies of the `40s and `50s, it's about time the world saw some of Yasujiro Ozu's earlier work in the silent medium, and this excellent set of three films from the early 1930s balances the scales nicely. Best remembered for his realistic portrayals of family life in medium-class Japan, Ozu obviously developed his remarkable insight into human nature and relationships already in the 1920s, as these three family comedies clearly show. Although very similar to his well-known films of later decades, these silent films have a subtle touch of comedy to spice things up and - in my opinion - make them even more entertaining than his later sound films. Watching Ozu's films in general feels like stepping into the lives of real people with all their thoughts, feelings and problems as if you are right there among them. Attention to details, natural acting and a tendency to linger on what seems like mundane daily actions all add to this overall impression of being involved in the film, not just being a distant observer. This skill was already honed to perfection by the time Ozu directed these three charming family stories in the early 1930s when the rest of the world was embracing sound films, yet Ozu, it seems, wanted to perfect and continue the beautiful and artistic silent film medium for as long as possible. He directed his first sound film in 1936, beginning a series of more sombre, even somewhat depressing family dramas, making this set of comedies a pleasant and refreshing new look at Ozu's work. Keeping to the formula he knew best, Ozu's three family comedies include young children, and the focus is on how everyone interacts with one another in the family circle as well as at work and in other surroundings. "Tokyo Chorus" follows the ups and downs in the life of an average working man who becomes unemployed and struggles to keep his wife and children happy, but these real-life problems are tempered with moments of sweet, almost childlike humour, quite different from the often coarse comedy seen in the West. For me, the most entertaining of the three is "Passing Fancy", which focuses on the relationship between a father and son living in poor conditions but helped along by neighbours and friends as the bungling father tries to sort out his life. Children are the stars in the third film, "I was Born, But..." where two young brothers learn to deal with moving to a new neighbourhood and the new kids on the block, but fathers once again play a key role in the family interactions. The natural acting by both adults and children impressed me the most in these films, along with Ozu's apparent easy and casual approach of glimpsing into family life with understanding, compassion and a little bit of wicked humour. While the picture quality of "Tokyo Chorus" is not quite up to the same high standard as the others, it is still enjoyable to watch, especially with the optional piano musical score by Donald Sosin, who does a fine job adding the right ambience to each scene. The DVDs have their individual slim cases with good notes inside which help shed some more light on this overlooked early part of Ozu's impressive career. For Ozu and silent film collectors alike, this is a special and unique addition not to be missed!
Summary of Eclipse Series 10 - Silent Ozu-Three Family Comedies (Tokyo Chorus, I Was Born But..., Passing Fancy) (Criterion Collection)
In the late twenties and early thirties Yasujiro Ozu was working steadily for Shochiku studios honing his craft on dozens of silent films in various genres from romantic melodramas to college comedies to gangster pictures - and of course movies about families. In these three droll domestic films - Tokyo Chorus I Am Born But... Passing Fancy - Ozu movingly and humorously depicts middle-class struggles and the resentments between children and parents establishing the emotional and aesthetic delicacy with which he would transform the landscape of cinema.Three-disc set includes:Tokyo Chorus (1931) 90 minutesI Was Born But...(1932) 90 minutesPassing Fancy (1933) 100 minutesSystem Requirements:LENGTH: 280 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/FAMILY GATHERINGS UPC: 715515029124 Manufacturer No: ECL045DVDTenth in the Eclipse Series, Criterion's effort to reintroduce "lost, forgotten, and overshadowed classics," Silent Ozu includes three early Yasujiro Ozu films that are incredibly entertaining with or without the piano scores offered by Donald Sosin. Ozu, the master of bittersweet family dramas, apparently based later films on these three--Tokyo Chorus (1931), I Was Born But… (1932), and Passing Fancy (1933)--though there is no lack of action, passion, or cinematic revelry in these prototypes. Crafted at Shochiku studios, each film reveals an everyman's struggle to pay bills and raise children. Not only do these movies offer slice-of-life glimpses into 1930s Japan, but they also honor familial roles with humor and respect. It is Ozu's ability to cut from emotional pain to comedy and back again that lends his films such deep humanity. In Tokyo Chorus, a family struggling through unemployment and illness bond during tribulations they face. Shinji Okajima's (Tokihiko Okada) son (Hideo Sugawara) asks for a bike right before Okajima loses his position at an insurance office. Disparities between what is desired and what is provided grow from there. When daughter Miyoko (Hideko Takamine) needs hospitalization, Okajima and his wife stoop lower socially than they wish to make ends meet. The family's determination undercuts their poverty. When Okajima tells his wife, "I feel I'm getting old, I've lost my spirit," she offers to help him pass flyers out to drum up restaurant business where he works. Hilarious scenes, such as when the insurance office workers line up in the loo to secretly peek into cash bonus envelopes, make the most of silent physical comedy. Passing Fancy is similar, though the impoverished father, Kihachi (Takeshi Sakamoto), works to locate a wife to mother his hooligan son.
I Was Born But… is the funniest of the three, with its Little Rascals like attention to the child's point of view. It opens with a shot of car wheels spinning in mud, since Mr. Yoshii (Tatsuo Saito) has just moved his family from suburban Azabu to Tokyo. As Yoshii slaves to improve his employment status, comedic scenes focus on his two sons, Ryoichi (Hideo Sugawara) and Keiji (Tomio Aoki), who continuously ward off local bullies while trying to please their dad. When the boys ditch class to avoid getting beat up, the younger remembers that he was "supposed to get an E in calligraphy today." Lying in a meadow, he does his lesson and recruits a passerby to forge a good grade on his paper. Later, after classmates swallow raw sparrow eggs to impress each other, the two stars feed their eggs to the family dog, accidentally sickening him. Scenes become funnier as tensions build between the parents and their rebellious sons. It is amazing how much Ozu can achieve with so little dialogue, which crops up sparingly printed on cards. One may wonder if sound these days even improves our film viewing experience. In the least, Silent Ozu recalls quieter times, when perhaps just as much narrative was expressed. --Trinie Dalton
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