Okajima, a college student with invincible kendo swordfighting skills, both vexes and amuses women with his conservative ways and his big, brushy beard which he carries with pride. One day, on his way to his friend Baron Yukimoto’s party, he rescues the demure Hiroko from a brazen swindler, Satoko. He goes to Hiroko’s company for a job interview and is rejected. Hiroko suggest that he shave off his beard and he at once lands a job, and attracts attention of both Yukimoto’s sister and Satoko. But his heart is set on Hiroko, and despite some mix-up with Satoko, their faith in each other is unshaken. —Ozu-san.com
Yasujiro Ozu was born in the old Fukagawa district of Tokyo, to a fertilizer merchant, in 1903. In 1923, after a couple of years as an assistant teacher in rural Japan, Ozu was hired as assistant cameraman at the Shochiku Motion Picture Company. Early in his career, Ozu began to experiment with an idiosyncratic film style that ran contrary to the conventions of Japanese or Hollywood cinema of the day. He strove to reduce and simplify his film style; he cast such mainstays as the fade, the dissolve, and the pan from his cinematic palette. He shot solely from a low camera angle, using a 50mm lens, and he subordinated spatial continuity to visual aesthetics. Ozu directed his first film in 1927,The Sword of Penitence. In 1932, he began to hit his creative stride with the touching comedy I Was Born, But…, which was his first commercial success. During World War II, he made few films such as There Was a Father.
After the war, Ozu reached his creative peak and made some of his finest… read more
A college graduate struggles to find work and to be taken seriously by women until he takes on board some advice from a woman he comes to the aid of in the street, and has his beard shaved off. His luck changes immediately as he not only finds a job quickly, he also has three women chasing after him! This charming and light Ozu movie was made in 1931, the year before he made a big breakthrough with I Was Born, But...
