Critics reviews

An "Our Gang" comedy that thickens and deepens unexpectedly in the final act. Spent most of it thinking I'd previously overrated it, but the final effect is deeply satisfying (albeit more as a moral fable than one of Ozu's psychological studies; also, the mother must be one of his most pallid female characters).

Yasujiro Ozu was only 29 years old when he directed I WAS BORN, BUT..., but more remarkable is that he had nearly 30 features to his credit at this point. As a result, the film embodies a breezy, youthful quality (of both the filmmaker and the Japanese studio system, which put even the productivity of early Hollywood to shame) while advancing a sophisticated understanding of film style.

Even in the print under review – evidently running short of the ‘original' 89 minutes listed in some sources or the 100 suggested by another — the extraordinary unity of Ozu's conception lends relevance and resonance to every fleeting detail, so that neither the above synopsis nor any abbreviated charting of relationships can begin to describe the film's richness, or the potential impact of its theme.