I Flunked, But...
- 11 April 1930 (1930-04-11)
Japanese intertitles
I Flunked, But... is a 1930 Japanese black and white silent film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. I Flunked, But... represented the first major role acted by Ozu's longtime collaborator Chishu Ryu.[1]
Premise
The film is one of several Ozu directed around this time dealing with student life.[2] The plot somewhat inverts that of Ozu's earlier film I Graduated, But....[2] The film follows Takahashi, a college student, and his 4 roommates and 4 other friends.[2] Takahashi and his 4 friends intend to cheat on a test by writing notes on Takahashi's shirt.[2][3] But the landlady sends the shirt to the laundry and Takahashi and his friends fail the test.[2][3] Takahashi's roommates pass the test and graduate but can't find jobs and end up wishing they were back in school like Takahashi and his friends, who had to return to school.[2]
Reception
Film critic David Bordwell noted influences on the film from Harold Lloyd and Ernst Lubitsch.[2] A Kinema Jumpo critic criticized for lacking the "social bite" of some of Ozu's earlier films.[2]
Analysis
Takahashi has a poster of Robert Milton's 1929 American film Charming Sinners hanging on his bedroom wall.[4]
References
- ^ Richie, Donald (1974). Ozu. California Press. pp. 209–210. ISBN 0520032772.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Bordwell, David (1988). Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema. Princeton University Press. pp. 202–205. ISBN 0691055165.
- ^ a b "I Flunked But…, 1930". Strictly Film School. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
- ^ Geist, Kathe (2023). Ozu: A Closer Look. Hong Kong University Press. p. 35. ISBN 9789888754175.
- v
- t
- e
- Sword of Penitence (1927)
- Days of Youth (1929)
- I Graduated, But... (1929)
- Walk Cheerfully (1930)
- I Flunked, But... (1930)
- That Night's Wife (1930)
- The Lady and the Beard (1931)
- Tokyo Chorus (1931)
- I Was Born, But... (1932)
- Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth? (1932)
- Until the Day We Meet Again (1932)
- Woman of Tokyo (1933)
- Dragnet Girl (1933)
- Passing Fancy (1933)
- A Mother Should Be Loved (1934)
- A Story of Floating Weeds (1934)
- An Inn in Tokyo (1935)
- The Only Son (1936)
- What Did the Lady Forget? (1937)
- Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941)
- There Was a Father (1942)
- Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947)
- A Hen in the Wind (1948)
- Late Spring (1949)
- The Munekata Sisters (1950)
- Early Summer (1951)
- The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice (1952)
- Tokyo Story (1953)
- Early Spring (1956)
- Tokyo Twilight (1957)
- Equinox Flower (1958)
- Good Morning (1959)
- Floating Weeds (1959)
- Late Autumn (1960)
- The End of Summer (1961)
- An Autumn Afternoon (1962)