Coeur capricieux

Another early Ozu where family ties - severely tested but affirmed - steer the world away from havoc and into good. Another early Ozu that documents Japanese society being pushed through the wringer of Western influence, cinematically reflected with Chaplinesque beats: the father is a lazy factory worker and no good man-about-town, in stark contrast to the meek, corporate executive father in I Was Born But.., and once more the stubborn son has to live with the shame.

This go round and in comparison to the above film, the intended seduction of suburban life is less effective. The innocence of childhood is less the fulcrum of discovery of how the world works, and more a counterpoint to ordinary drama; thwarted love, strained friendship, high-minded sacrifice in the end that seduces noble, better persons out of everyone.

Everything turns out the way it does for a reason, the film whimsically asserts. Why is sea water salty? But of course for us to salt salmon with.

It is good and was awarded that year with a Kinema Jumpo beating films by future rivals Mizoguchi and Naruse. I assume it won for the denouement of selfless humanity - inspirationally miraculous and accompanied by fireworks in the sky - that must have echoed desirably at tumultuous times such as those, but there were more interesting things afoot in Japanese cinema of the time.

Takeshi Sakamoto and Tokan Kozzo team up memorably yet again as an unemployed illiterate drunk and his resentful son, in this sentimental study of working class father-son relationships. As in I WAS BORN BUT... and TOKYO CHORUS, Ozu explores how children measure their self-esteem in their parents.

"Passing fancy" (1933) is the latest of the three "silent Ozu's" that I have watched recently (the others were "Tokyo chorus" (1931) and "I was born ... but" (1932)) and the most recent one. Despite the coming of sound Ozu still adheres (just like Chaplin) firmly to the silent tradition. In his view silent film was on his way to reaching perfection and this was threatened by the still infant and imperfect sound technology. "Passing fancy" has many slapstick elements. See for example how characters in this film scratch their buttocks to express uncertainty and discomfort.

"Passing fancy" is of al three silent Ozu's the one with the most contrast to his later oeuvre.

It is about a young son and an adult father in stead of about an adult son and elderly parents. The father is single. The father is working class and not middle class.

Apart from the father-son relationsship there is also a love triangle in this film. In his favourite pub one night there appears a young lady. The father inmediately falls for her charms, but his younger colleague does not trust the lady. Of course the lady herself prefers the younger colleague. The father does ridicule himself courting someone half his age and in the proces neglects his son. Halfway the film one wonders if the father is raising his son or the other way round.

At the end the father, who is pretty good in fooling himself, has ultimately to come to two conclusions. In the first place that he is too old for the young lady (who calls him "a nice uncle", at first much to his chagrin) and in the second place that he has been a lousy father.

Takashi Sakamoto plays the somewhat naive and not very clever father in such a sympathetic way that the next year he returned as the main charecter in Ozu's real breakthrough film "A story of floating weeds".

This rarely screened silent gem shows Ozu rather early in his career. It presents the story of a poor factory worker trying to raise his son despite many obstacles and hardships. The biggest obstacle of all is the father himself who, though well intentioned and charismatic, makes one mistake in judgment after another. The father manages to get through all his many trials and tribulations thanks to the support (not always warmly) given by his friends and neighbors.

The most interesting thing for me about Passing Fancy is the way it uses a quite hard boiled, gritty realism and coarsely drawn, boorish characters to elicit very tender feelings in the viewer. The mixture of humor and pathos that advances the plot would be impossible for lesser directors or a weak cast to pull off, but in the hands of this troupe the whole enterprise succeeds wonderfully. Somehow, you may find yourself tempted to cry despite the near-total absence of sentimentality.

The acting is excellent all around, but the young boy deserves special mention. To Japanese, particularly at the time, the boy's behavior must have seemed shockingly inappropriate and unfilial, but his antics and facial expressions are very funny.

It is hard to believe that this is one of three movies that Ozu directed in 1933 alone. If the opportunity arises to see this movie, make every effort to see it.

Ozu has often used the theme of father and son relationships in his films and here he explores a little more besides. Beyond the relationship of Kihachi the father and Tomio the young son you get the widower Kihachi trying to become closer to the pretty, much younger Harue. This silent film speaks volumes about family, about hopes but it is Ozu's light comic touch which makes it another great film of his. It is completely silent but it is compelling, actually a story that could be retold and remade in any corner of the globe. The acting is just about universally good and the film has a lot of heart attached to its sometimes ordinary theme. Then again, Ozu has always made extraordinary out of the ordinary. Here is another example of the master at work.