WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!
While there is much to appreciate and enjoy about The Record Of A Tenement Gentleman, overall I find it to be "minor-league" Ozu. The film lacks the richness of story and complexity of character found in so many of his other films. The relationship between Tane and Kohei grows subtly, but is not as interesting as one would wish.
I find most regrettable the rather preachy ending where Tane tells her friends (and us) that "we worry too much about ourselves" and "he (the boy) really made me think." Her speech at the end is over-kill. The film would have been better had it simply showed the father and son walking away then cutting to Tane thinking about what she had been through with the boy. You could still include the final shot of the homeless boys next to Saigo's statue for a final poetic touch.
Four sequences deserve special mention as favorites: The "peep show" song, Tane's search for the boy, the photo studio picture taking, and the shot of the boy walking away with his father into the night.
For even better Ozu films check out Passing Fancy (1933), A Story of Floating Weeds (1934 version), Tokyo Story (1953), or Equinox Flower (1958).
While there is much to appreciate and enjoy about The Record Of A Tenement Gentleman, overall I find it to be "minor-league" Ozu. The film lacks the richness of story and complexity of character found in so many of his other films. The relationship between Tane and Kohei grows subtly, but is not as interesting as one would wish.
I find most regrettable the rather preachy ending where Tane tells her friends (and us) that "we worry too much about ourselves" and "he (the boy) really made me think." Her speech at the end is over-kill. The film would have been better had it simply showed the father and son walking away then cutting to Tane thinking about what she had been through with the boy. You could still include the final shot of the homeless boys next to Saigo's statue for a final poetic touch.
Four sequences deserve special mention as favorites: The "peep show" song, Tane's search for the boy, the photo studio picture taking, and the shot of the boy walking away with his father into the night.
For even better Ozu films check out Passing Fancy (1933), A Story of Floating Weeds (1934 version), Tokyo Story (1953), or Equinox Flower (1958).