An Analysis of Ozu’s The Record of a Tenement Gentleman
The Record of a Tenement Gentleman (Nagaya Shinshiroku), directed by Yasujiro Ozu and starring Chouko Iida as Tane and Hohi Aoki as a young boy, was released in 1947 by Shochiku. It narrates the story of small Japanese town a few years after the Second World War. Focusing around events in a small tenement housing, a lost boy is entrusted to Tane by a neighbor after the boy refuses to be left alone on the streets to wander. The story then focuses on the personal conflicts experienced by Tane, specifically on her seeming confusion about whether to allow the boy to live with her, or to force him to return to the streets. This kind of film borders on the drama/melodrama shomin-geki genre, which emphasizes human emotion and its propensity to relate to the hardships being experienced by other people, and the inherent character of every person to desire to offer assistance to others who are in need, resulting in a film that exhibits a theme basically entrenched in the human consciousness.
There are examples that prove the validity of this film as being solely focused on human emotion. First are the conflicts that show the superficiality of human characters who refuse additional duties and responsibilities. This can be evidenced in the initial stages of the story, when the self-declared astrologer/artist first brings the young boy into the tenement, showing the other characters who are reluctant to assume the responsibilities of parent. It is worth noting that the problem is only solved through deceptive techniques, which eventually force Tane to accept responsibility. In another instance, the human psyche is again revealed after Tane fails to return the boy to his original family in a town far from her own. Despite her anger for such failure, she still provides the boy with a few pieces of bread. It clearly reveals that despite her anger, Tane could not resist the desire to offer her help, which shows a facet of her humanity. Lastly, the scene that shows Tane admonishing the young boy and ranting, “Your father’s a hard-hearted man. You didn’t get lost, you were deserted” (Ozu, 1947), shows the inherent human tendency to blame others for problems that she is experiencing. Here, it is likewise evident that despite her disgust, she has already learned to love the boy and intends to keep him as her own son, as evidenced by her sadness over the boy’s later disappearance. In all of these instances, it is evident that the film intends to convey the true nature of the human psyche; that we are naturally inclined to care for others and that despite of what we may vocally imply, we are truly compassionate beings.
In its attempt to illustrate life in its most honest and truthful depiction, the film incorporates several techniques. Firstly, costumes convey the specific representation of each character. Hence, we see Tane with cheap kimonos that clearly highlight her domestic and less affluent lifestyle, her rich friend has expensive kimonos implicative of her high social status, and the young boy who is always in street clothes, indicating his role as a wanderer. Also, a deliberate effort is made to justify the plot as being a war-torn town. This can be seen not only with the extensive coverage of the destruction, but also with the seeming simplicity that the houses and set designs portray. This depicts a country presently recovering form the economic crisis brought on by war. Lastly, the clear attempt to convey this film as a shomin-geki, or a film about everyday people, can be expressly distinguished by all of the characters presented in the film, both major as well as insignificant participants.
Concerning the relationship between the film’s technicality and its effectiveness, the several techniques are used. First, there are the camera shots consistently remain at eye-level throughout the film, at times even engaging in close-up shots of Tane to capture her emotions. This allows for the audience to view themselves as part of the story by being able to view all the scenes from a normal perspective. Also, it is apparent that several images were repeated to emphasize on a particular theme of a specific scene, such as the repetitive camera panning of the war-torn city horizon that seems to constantly remind the viewer of the film’s plot. Another instance of this technique can be found in the scene where Tane is trying to abandon the young boy by outrunning him by the seashore, especially with the scene being taken that portrays the two characters in silhouette forms on top of the sand mounds.
After watching the film, I am inclined to believe that the film is able to confirm its effectiveness through simplicity, both in its technicality and in its artistry. This observation is not in any way meant to diminish its quality, but rather to emphasize that its minimalist approach perfectly accentuates the artistic style that the film intends to convey. As such, the film does not find it necessary to result to violence, offensive language, or sexual depictions just to relate its intended theme, but has in fact proven that methodical employment of cinematic techniques such as camera panning, set designs, and theme-enhancing repetitive techniques, among others, are more than enough to effectively communicate with its audience.