I Was Born, But... (Umarete Wa Mita Keredo) is a 1932 film directed by Yasujiro Ozu.
Keiji and Ryoichi are brothers of elementary school age. Their father, Kennosuke, has moved the family to a new home in a rather rustic Tokyo suburb. The boys have trouble adjusting, and soon run afoul of a gang of bullies. Wishing to avoid getting beat up, they start skipping school, but they're caught when their father has a chance encounter with their teacher.
Eventually, with the help of an older teenaged boy, Keiji and Ryoichi not only get revenge on Kamekichi, the head bully, they depose him and become leaders of the gang. Then in the last third of the movie the story goes in a new direction as a party at Kennosuke's boss's house leads the boys to discover some troubling truths about their father.
I Was Born, But... is a silent film; silent movie production in Japan continued for most of the 1930s alongside talking films. Ozu's 1959 color-and-sound film Good Morning is a loose remake of this film.
Tropes:
- Butt-Monkey: The brothers are startled when they see the boss's home movies, and learn that their father is something of a Butt-Monkey at the office, continually making goofy faces on demand for the boss's amusement.
- Call-Back: Early in the film Kamekichi the bully takes Ryoichi's interlocking rings puzzle. Late in the film, after Kamekichi has become a follower of the brothers in a Defeat Means Friendship way, Ryoichi is shown helping him figure out how it works.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Like with many other silent Ozu films, this one lacks the distinctive style he evolved in post-war years, with a lot of camera panning as opposed to the almost always stationary camera of his later films, and none of the shot-reverse shot dialogue staging of his later works.
- Gang of Bullies: The gang, led by a taller and bulkier kid named Kamekichi, that bully Keiji and Ryoichi and cause them to skip school. After they get an older kid to smack Kamekichi around, Keiji and Ryoichi become leaders of the gang.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Kennosuke grabs a bottle and says "I need a drink" after his older son Ryoichi calls him a "weakling" and a failure. This hits home for Kennosuke, who is dissatisfied with his life and later calls himself an "apple-polisher".
- Match Cut:
- There's a cut between the bully playing with the linked-chain toy he took from the brothers, to one of the brothers playing with a ball-and-cup toy at home.
- The parallel between social structures among kids and grownups is emphasized by a match cut from the kids writing at their desks at school to the adults at their desk in the office.
- My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad: A popular topic of conversation among the neighborhood boys, about whose father is the strongest or most powerful and important.
- Raw Eggs Make You Stronger: The kids have a habit of eating raw sparrow eggs in the belief that it will make them stronger and tougher. Keiji and Ryoichi even feed raw eggs to their dog, and succeed only in making the dog sick.
- Skipping School: The brothers play hooky in order to avoid the bullies. Ryochi even gets an older boy to write "E" (for "Excellent", presumably) on his calligraphy homework. They're busted when the teacher meets their father and asks about them.
- Slice of Life: A portrait of two schoolboys learning some truths about life, namely that their father is a person with flaws.
- Standing in the Hall: One of the schoolboys gets caught downing raw eggs in class and is forced to stand in the hall.
- Summon Bigger Fish: The brothers solve their problem of being bullied by large, beefy Kamekichi by having a considerably larger teenaged boy smack Kamekichi around and warn him not to kpick on Keiji and Ryoichi.
