Daigaku wa detakeredo

It is important for potential viewers to understand that Ozu's early effort, "I Graduated, But..." is a lost film; only fragments of its original seventy minutes are available for viewing, and therefore the pacing is quite poor and it definitely feels like there is a huge chunk missing to the simplistic story Ozu tells. What is left of the film is, to say the least, quite fascinating, allowing audience members to have a glimpse at a cinematic master's first years of filmmaking. Ozu adjusts himself to the art form he would soon change forever in a way that is as charming and wholesome as one could hope for. There are some very funny moments in the film's twelve remaining minutes, but it isn't nearly as humorous as it was in its original form, drying this intended comedy of its seeming purpose; to provoke laughter. However, this is not the film's fault, for this great cinematic loss was only a fact of chance.

An early Ozu short about a young graduate who can't bring himself to accept a low-on-the-food-chain position at an office because he feels he's overqualified; and the consequences of that decision.

Very bittersweet stuff, with a great ending that's happy, but not unabashedly happy. Like a lot of later Ozu works, 'I Graduated, But...' is a humble, down-to-earth story about ordinary people and its joy comes from their minor (meaningless in the great scheme) triumphs.

Especially noteworthy are a couple of shots of the main character at the bar, filmed from table height and incredibly striking, a Harold Lloyd poster that shows up in the background several times, and the conflict between tradition and modernity illustrated by the film's second-to-last shot of a moving train.

'I Graduated, But...' is recommended to Ozu fans and to fans of silent cinema in general.

A college graduate is unable to find a job but tries to hide his unemployment from his wife and fiancee. Though only 11 minutes of fragments is all that remains of Ozu's initial entry in the "I Verbed, But..." series, it still plays rather coherently.

It's Ozu hundred percent: nice middle class guys understanding their mistakes as they get lessons of life from their loved ones. The social situation is harsh, but the tone of Ozu is mild, his empathy for the personages is total. Says Donald Richie in his monumental monograph consecrated to the great Japanese director, "he (Ozu) was always ready to accept human nature as he found it... (and) he went on to celebrate it."

I Graduated, But... is one of the movies of Ozu that is lost. Released in 1929, it was 100 minutes long. What remained are some fragments that have together a length of ten minutes. At least they offer a good summary of the plot.

It is unfortunate that the whole movie is no more. Critics consider it as marking the emergence of what is known as the "style of Ozu." You can see in the fragments in the fragments that remained: the poster with Harold Lloyd that keeps on coming on the screen, the two kids playing the ball, the scenes in the bar. As I said, it's Ozu hundred percent, the amazing Ozu.

It's just a 12 minute fragment, but the portion that was preserved is entertaining and tells a sketch of a story in its own right, so I'm happy I saw this. There is a universality to the hunt for a job after college ("Excuse me, but I'm a college graduate"), and I smiled at him needing to fool his mother by pretending to go work (the "Nomoto at the office" intertitle followed by him playing with kids at the park). As an added treat, we get a movie poster for Harold Lloyd's Speedy from the previous year in the background. Watch it also for Kinuyo Tanaka in her very earliest film - she went on to a prolific career, with over 250 acting credits.