Days of Youth (1929)
"Gakusei romansu: Wakaki hi" (original title)

Director:

Yasujirô Ozu

Writers:

Akira Fushimi, Yasujirô Ozu

Stars:

Ichirô Yuki, Tatsuo Saitô, Junko Matsui

Cast

Credited cast:
Ichirô Yuki	...	Bin Watanabe
Tatsuo Saitô	...	Shuichi Yamamoto
Junko Matsui	...	Chieko
Shin'ichi Himori
Chishû Ryû	...	Student
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chôko Iida	...	Chieko's aunt
Ichirô Okuni	...	Hanayama
Takeshi Sakamoto	...	Teacher
Nobuko Wakaba
Hisao Yoshitani

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

youth | triangle drama | teacher | cheating at exam | friendship | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

Japan

Release Date:

13 April 1929 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Days of Youth

Filming Locations:

Shochiku-Kamata Studios, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shôchiku Eiga

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References 7th Heaven (1927)

User Reviews

Ozu's "Japanese Pie"

This breezy student comedy about the misadventures of two slacker collegians (Ichiro Yuki and Tatsuo Saito, who does a great riff on Harold Lloyd) is Ozu's earliest existing film. The narrative is as incidental as ever but eventually locks into an extended sequence capturing the foibles of a romantic triangle that develops during an extended skiing sequence -- which in itself is a wonder as it's probably the longest exterior sequence Ozu ever filmed. Ozu's filmmaking is more "mainstream" than what he's known for, utilizing dissolves, handheld camerawork and clever point of view shots to capture the thrills and spills of the ski slopes. Ozu's characteristically lovely moments of human intimacy are in evidence, but they have yet to be as sharply composed, pared down to the graphic simplicity that is his hallmark. It seems evident that a younger, more carefree Ozu directed this -- it's relatively slight but extremely affable depiction of youth -- one wonders what wonders Ozu would have done with AMERICAN PIE.