The Student Comedies
Yasujiro Ozu
Release date: 20 Feb 2012

1929-32 | B&W | Japan
Runtime: Disc 1: 99 mins + 63 mins; Disc 2: 72 mins + 82 mins
Language(s): Silent/Japanese intertitles | Subtitles: English
Published/distributed by BFI
ISBN/EAN: 5035673009277
Ratio 1.33:1
Price: £29.99 (amazon pre-order: £21.47)

Master Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu (Tokyo Story) is revered for his unique and poetic style. This 2-disc set brings together all of his surviving early student-genre comedies for the first time.

Disc One:
DAYS OF YOUTH (Wakaki Hi)
Ozu’s earliest surviving film follows students Watanabe and Yamamoto as they unknowingly
compete for the same girl.
I FLUNKED, BUT... (Rakudai Wa Shita Keredo)
Takahashi finds a creative way to avoid doing his revision in this roguish comedy reminiscent of
Harold Lloyd’s The Freshman.

Disc Two:
THE LADY AND THE BEARD (Shukujo To Hige)
Graduate Okajima finds his old-fashioned beard makes life difficult in a comedy exploring the
tension between tradition and modernity.
WHERE NOW ARE THE DREAMS OF YOUTH? (Seishun No Yume Ima Izuko) Ozu’s long-term collaborator Kogo Noda scripts a subtle shift from light to dark as Hirano’s carefree college life is marred by tragedy.

Extras
* I Graduated, But… (Yasujiro Ozu, 1929,11 minutes): surviving fragment of Ozu’s early student comedy.
* Newly-commissioned scores for all films by Ed Hughes featuring The Camilleri Trio and Richard Casey.
* Ozu: Emotion and Poetry (2011, 20 minutes): Tony Rayns discusses Ozu’s early work and influences.
* Illustrated booklet with newly commissioned essays from Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns and Alexander Jacoby.