Friday, September 6, 6:00 p.m. | Before he became the celebrated master of “transcendental” style with classics such as TOKYO STORY, Yasujirô Ozu already had a long career as a wildly popular silent-era comic filmmaker, and 1932’s I WAS BORN, BUT… shows him at the height of his hilarious powers, as he tells the story of brothers Keiji and Ryoichi (played with astonishing verve by child actors Tomio Aoki and Hideo Sugawara), who learn that their all-powerful father is, in the outside world, a lowly corporate functionary. I WAS… holds up as a great film for the whole family (kids love it!), even as Ozu movingly allows the darker shades of the adult world to inflect his young heroes’ antics. David Bordwell greatly appreciated this and Ozu’s other early Shochiku Studio films, for, among other things, precisely this deft mix of happy and sad. (James Schamus, Professor of Professional Practice Film and Media Studies, Columbia University) Presented with live accompaniment by pianist David Drazin.

Awards & Nominations

Winner - Best Film, Kinema Junpo Award

Remembering David Bordwell: David Bordwell (1947–2024), a beloved film scholar, passed away earlier this year at the age of 76. Bordwell’s impact and legacy is widespread: film curators and critics, cinephiles and casual viewers have been shaped, educated, and invigorated by Bordwell’s perspectives. With this series, we invited friends and colleagues of Bordwell’s to select a film that was special to him, in the hopes that, through these titles, we can pay tribute to his enthusiasm for cinema through our own. Read more

The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu