'Record of a Tenement Gentleman,' Yasujiro Ozu's first film following the Second World War, is a transitional work in many ways. When he made his previous film, the tender 1942 father-son drama 'There Was a Father,' the world was a drastically different place. Ozu had recently returned from conscription in the Japanese Army, from fighting a still winnable war. He was almost certainly ready to resume his prolific work rate, having churned out some three dozen comedies and dramas of varying quality with legendary efficiency. However, by 1947, the war had ended in the most heinous way possible, and the director was forced to reexamine not just his process, but also the role his films would play in consoling a bereaved nation and world at large.
'Tenement Gentleman' sees Ozu employing a fairly novel device, for him at least, the humanistic allegory. While his previous films were rife with "lessons," they primarily dealt with either familial issues or peculiarities of Japanese society. Here, the characters and their tribulations take on a more universal significance. The widow Otane (Chôko Iida) eking out a lonely existence epitomizes war widows and childless mothers worldwide, and the orphaned boy, the innocence and humanity inevitably lost by a generation following so much armed conflict. The story of the hardened old woman won over by a stoic foundling is a plea to viewers to change their selfish and distrustful outlook, the only way to collectively overcome the traumas of war.
Ozu's depiction of landscapes evolved as well. It had been, for the most part, realistic in prior films, only deviating for aesthetic effect (the film noir of 'This Night's Wife'), but the mise en scène in 'Tenement Gentleman' borders on expressionistic. When woman and child leave their village to search for the boy's father, wreckage and garbage line the completely empty streets. She doesn't attempt to ditch the boy in a crowded area, but on a desolate beach, devoid of life, dunes redolent of the desert or the moon. Alternately, when the issue of abandoned boys is broached by one character, Ozu cuts to a small army of orphans, milling around as is waiting for their cue. The maudlin soundtrack evokes Hollywood melodramas as well. Though not overdone, the filmmaker was obviously using more overt means to convey a broader message than he was used to.
Still, these embellishments are subtle, and Ozu employs many of his characteristic devices and themes. An engrossing scene depicting a peep show performance at dinner (not as raunchy as it sounds) recalls the reverent observance of the geisha ceremony in 'What Did the Lady Forget?' The difference between this film and prior efforts lies in this scene; the song is presented not just as a custom that unites generations, or as symbol of a near-obsolescent way of life that should be cherished, but as a curative ritual, a sacrament. Somewhere between his perfunctory early films and the near-perfect austerity of his late work, Ozu expanded his scope beyond topics endemic to Japan, and realized that he could do much more than offer commentary. Films could heal, not with outlandish scenarios or emotional pandering, but through communion with the arts and the ennoblement of the everyday. 'Tenement Gentleman' is an important step in the evolution of a spiritually purifying cinema.
Ozu's depiction of landscapes evolved as well. It had been, for the most part, realistic in prior films, only deviating for aesthetic effect (the film noir of 'This Night's Wife'), but the mise en scène in 'Tenement Gentleman' borders on expressionistic. When woman and child leave their village to search for the boy's father, wreckage and garbage line the completely empty streets. She doesn't attempt to ditch the boy in a crowded area, but on a desolate beach, devoid of life, dunes redolent of the desert or the moon. Alternately, when the issue of abandoned boys is broached by one character, Ozu cuts to a small army of orphans, milling around as is waiting for their cue. The maudlin soundtrack evokes Hollywood melodramas as well. Though not overdone, the filmmaker was obviously using more overt means to convey a broader message than he was used to.
Still, these embellishments are subtle, and Ozu employs many of his characteristic devices and themes. An engrossing scene depicting a peep show performance at dinner (not as raunchy as it sounds) recalls the reverent observance of the geisha ceremony in 'What Did the Lady Forget?' The difference between this film and prior efforts lies in this scene; the song is presented not just as a custom that unites generations, or as symbol of a near-obsolescent way of life that should be cherished, but as a curative ritual, a sacrament. Somewhere between his perfunctory early films and the near-perfect austerity of his late work, Ozu expanded his scope beyond topics endemic to Japan, and realized that he could do much more than offer commentary. Films could heal, not with outlandish scenarios or emotional pandering, but through communion with the arts and the ennoblement of the everyday. 'Tenement Gentleman' is an important step in the evolution of a spiritually purifying cinema.
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