
Days of Youth
(Gakusei romansu / Wakaki hi)
Screening on Film
With Yuki Ichiro, Saito Tatsuo, Matsui Junko .
Japan, 1929, 35mm, black & white, silent, 103 min.
Japanese intertitles with English subtitles.
Print source: Janus Films
Ozu’s earliest surviving film exhibits the young filmmaker’s dexterous integration of Hollywood influences into contemporary popular genres. Waseda University students Watanabe Bin (Yuki Ichiro) and Yamamoto Shuichi (Saito Tatsuo) are tired of studying; they would much rather have girlfriends. On a student ski trip, a shared crush on Chieko (Matsui Junko) sets off a battle for her attention, culminating in snowy slapstick gags filmed with pans and tilts, closeups and snow-splattered handheld shots—as David Bordwell notes, these comedic sequences are indebted to Harold Lloyd and Ernst Lubitsch. The vacation—a reverie of drinking, singing, bonding with friends, fighting over girls—ends with a confirmation of their failing grades. These are the imprudent activities implicitly invoked by nostalgic characters in films like I Flunked, But… and Late Autumn, remembered as vital times rather than regrettable mistakes.
Part of film series
Screenings from this program
Late Spring

Tokyo Story

Early Summer

Passing Fancy

Dragnet Girl

Tokyo Story

A Story of Floating Weeds

Days of Youth

The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice

Early Spring

The Munekata Sisters

Floating Weeds

Good Morning

Late Autumn

Tokyo Twilight

The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family

I Flunked, But …

Late Autumn

Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth?

The End of Summer

Early Spring

Café Lumière

Tokyo Story
