小孩子好不容易在異鄉(xiāng)站穩(wěn)了腳跟，哪怕就算現(xiàn)在“征服”了老板的兒子，但是發(fā)現(xiàn)最后還是和父親的地位息息相關(guān)，未來還是要給老板的兒子打工。

有些東西真的是千古不變的吧。

小孩問：

爸媽其實(shí)沒有解答，只能擁有美好的期待，而美好的期待這種東西，基本都沒什么用：

父親的話

母親的話

到了最后，還是變成輪回，孩子的孩子也會(huì)這樣問吧：

AlthoughI Was Born, But…(Yasujiro Ozu, 1932) was one of the early works by Ozu, he demonstrates an exceptional aptitude on embodying the callous power dynamics within Japanese working-class structure through the lens of two kids’ growing dismay and perplexity. The film, through a parallel narrative of the father Yoshii (Tatsuo Saito) in work and his children Ryoichi (Hideo Sugawara) and Keiji (Tomio Aoki) in school, presents a keen comparison of the power dynamics of these characters when dealing with convoluted interpersonal relationships.

I Was Born, But…revolves around the notion of power. For salarymen like Yoshii, all the powers concentrate on the hands of the Iwasaki (Takeshi Sakamoto), the big executive in charge of the firm. In order to receive a good salary, and afford a better life for the family, Yoshii racks his mind to hobnob with his boss. Regardless of the physical locations, he would approach Iwasaki in an adulatory manner whenever he has a chance, to not only physically, but mentally live near the boss. Knowing Iwasaki’s passion for film, Yoshii even participates in Iwasaki’s filming of daily vignettes to cater for his interest, which will later trigger a galling incidence, provoking a series of family dramas. While Ozu revealed a bleak image of underlying hierarchies in the adult world and the hypocritical social fabric embedded in the system, he presented a rather humorous and frisky plot via the scope of the neighborhood children, paralleling with the salaryman script. Unlike the adult world brimming with intrigues and office politics, for children, the advent of power lies in physical strength. New to the neighborhood, Ryoichi and Keiji struggle to blend in the new environment, especially when they are intimidated by school bullies, led by a bigger kid (Zentaro Iijima). Luckily, they are wise enough to exploit the physical power of the older delivery boy (Shoichi Kofujita), and eventually to supersede the bigger kid as the most dominant figures in the neighborhood. Even Taro (Kat?), Iwasaki’s son, has to pay deference to the boys’ incantation. (a game often played among the children) In the sequence in which the kids witness Yoshii accompanying Iwasaki back home, we finally see these two storylines interweave. Ashamed of the fact that Taro’s father is their father’s boss, Ryoichi and Keiji once again cast the incantation on Toro, hoping to regain at least part of their supremacy. However, Yoshii intervenes and halts the game forthwith, helping Taro gets up from the ground as if he is treating his boss at work at the same time reproaching his sons’ impropriety. Of course, the twins would not understand why their father, an undisputed hero figure in their opinion, would treat Taro in such an obsequious manner. Nevertheless, Father’s reprimand is a blow to the brothers’ imaginary fantasy, offering them a snippet of the how things should work in the reality. The scene puts the two independent worlds under the same frame, revealing adult society’s boot-licking conducts as oppose to children’s ingenuous power ideology and imparting them an imperative lesson about the rigid stratification of the society for the first time.

Ozu's deft camera movements usage are inalienable from narrative functions achieved inI Was Born, But.Nonetheless, the most salient visual style ought to be his utilization of camera movements as a medium to navigate between the two major storylines. Reminiscent of Fritz Lang’s employment of sound as a cue to cut between different spaces inM, (Fritz Lang, 1931), Ozu harnessed the tracking of the camera to establish a relationship between two shots regardless of the discontinuous spaces. In the playground/office scene, a sequence of students marching down the playground is cut to the father’s office smoothly as the camera tracks from left to right. The playful camera movement proffers a sense of verisimilitude as audiences mentally follow the camera motion, navigating between the two settings despite the lack of temporal unity. The juxtaposition of irrelevant sequences also puts two drastically different worlds (children and adults) in compare and contrast with each other, soliciting viewers’ examination of the ulterior motifs behind the image. On the playground, the bigger kid got excoriated by the teacher for not following instructions like other students do. In a cut to the next sequence, the camera, however, now tracking from left to right, capturing an associate who meant to concentrate on work, and shifts right forthwith as he could not resist the soporific working environment and began to yawn like anyone else. These nuances in each character’s synchronous motions allude to the social conformity which everyone ought to obey, epitomizing the foreboding transition from carefree children to institutionalized worker for each person living in the society surrounded by sheer competition.

Although taking immense amounts of inspiration from classical Hollywood comedy, Ozu repeatedly violated the Hollywood continuity editing principle. Instead filming the dialogue scene in the traditional over-the-shoulder method, Ozu framed his dialogue scene more often in a 360-degree style, constantly switching camera positions, proffering a discordant but holistic scene. In the film’s final scene, after understanding the father’s identity and accepting the reality of the life, the two brothers admitted Taro’s father is indeed better. After reconciliation, a straight-on medium long shot shows that the brothers again casting incantation on Taro. In the next shot, however, the camera has already moved behind Ryoichi’s feet, as we observe Taro’s “death” on the ground. At the moment that Ryoichi and Keiji cast the second “revival” incantation in the subsequent shot, the camera has completely switched to the opposite point of view that the initial shot is at, revealing not only the twin brothers but also the train rail barrier.

People would often associate discontinuity film production such as 360-degree system, uncanny camera positions, and playful editing with a sense of distance and detachment because of the diminishing effect on the temporal unity across the narrative. But for Ozu, the combination of these techniques results the opposite, presenting a self-aware and emotionally-intense everyday scenario which builds upon a direct conversation with the audience. The usage of these cinematic techniques continues to be an inextricable part of Ozu’s directing language through his entire film career, embodying his philosophy of straddling the realm of subjectivity and objectivity, and offering contemplative cinemas to viewers not only to realize the sadness and melancholy about the reality of life but to retrospect their own experiences.

面對(duì)職人社會(huì)，學(xué)校教育的失敗，兩個(gè)孩子說出了他們的夢(mèng)想“我想當(dāng)中將、我想當(dāng)大將”。這恰恰揭示了日本軍國主義誕生的脈絡(luò)。

影片中的兒童世界，是一個(gè)微型的叢林社會(huì)。在弱肉強(qiáng)食的社會(huì)里，人靠拳頭說話。兩個(gè)外來者依靠更強(qiáng)的外援實(shí)力，輕松奪取孩子王寶座，國王易主。

坐在國王寶座的兩兄弟，很快意識(shí)到世界并不如他們所想，靠拳頭說了算。

為了看電影，兩兄弟向小弟繳納入場費(fèi)--象征著權(quán)力與神秘力量的鳥蛋。據(jù)說生吃鳥蛋就會(huì)獲得神秘的力量。在武力社會(huì)，兩兄弟是國王；在商業(yè)社會(huì)，兩兄弟淪為跟班?？v使他們后來如何生氣，在繳納入場費(fèi)的那一刻，兩兄弟就成了自己鄙視的，對(duì)別人點(diǎn)頭哈腰的爸爸。

原本高大偉岸，厲害風(fēng)光的爸爸，成為了靠溜須拍馬、自毀形象、扮演卓別林來逗上司笑的小丑。父親的形象坍塌，他們無法理解。他們質(zhì)問父親：

“為什么爸爸要討好那些人？” “為什么爸爸不做大執(zhí)行長官？” “為什么爸爸不給巖崎的爸爸發(fā)工資？” 父親被問得啞口無言，明明從小就各個(gè)科目都得甲，為什么長大之后反而要給那些不如我的人工作？

商業(yè)社會(huì)的邏輯就這么奇怪，父親亦不明白。若不是沒有選擇，我何嘗想用溜須拍馬換取工作高升。

后來父親問小朋友想你們長大了想做什么：將軍。按拳頭說話，打破經(jīng)濟(jì)壁壘的武力社會(huì)，兩個(gè)小孩走向了軍國主義的道路。

我出生了，但社會(huì)并不公平；

我出生了，但職人社會(huì)讓父親成為小丑；

我出生了，但成為軍人才可以突破職人社會(huì)的限制。

PS.小津的污點(diǎn)，

1.小津是軍國主義者嗎？

小津的確參加過侵華戰(zhàn)爭，但當(dāng)時(shí)每個(gè)家庭都需要出一個(gè)男人參軍。我們總是腦補(bǔ)當(dāng)時(shí)的日本人是積極踴躍參軍的，小津亦是被迫參加。對(duì)于戰(zhàn)爭我們應(yīng)該譴責(zé)一個(gè)普通的士兵還是發(fā)起戰(zhàn)爭的軍官？時(shí)代的車輪中，我們亦是被驅(qū)趕者。

小津在戰(zhàn)后拍攝的電影《長屋紳士錄》，反思的正是戰(zhàn)爭對(duì)普通民眾的影響，反思戰(zhàn)爭的危害?？梢哉f小津充滿了對(duì)戰(zhàn)爭的反思和悔過的。

所以小津并不是軍國主義者，他也并未參加過南京大屠殺。按照他對(duì)戰(zhàn)爭的情緒，比起看他是否參加過戰(zhàn)爭，來判斷是否是軍國主義者應(yīng)該更準(zhǔn)確。