Record of a Tenement Gentleman

Name: Nagaya shinshiroku
Genre: Drama
Released: 1947-05-20
Duration: 1 h 12 min
Rating: 7.7
Cast: Chôko Iida, Hôhi Aoki, Eitarô Ozawa

Original title: Nagaya shinshiroku

1947
1h 12m

IMDb RATING

7.7/10

2.4K

YOUR RATING

Drama

In postwar Japan, an abandoned boy nobody wants to take care of grows a relationship with a cynical middle-aged woman.In postwar Japan, an abandoned boy nobody wants to take care of grows a relationship with a cynical middle-aged woman.In postwar Japan, an abandoned boy nobody wants to take care of grows a relationship with a cynical middle-aged woman.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.7/10

2.4K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
This was the first movie made by director Yasujirô Ozu after returning to Japan from his wartime army service abroad. After the surrender, he had been held for half a year in a British POW camp near Singapore, where he had been stationed. Legend has it that he was late in returning to Japan (in February 1946) because, although he was scheduled to be repatriated earlier, another Japanese soldier was desperate to go home, and Ozu let this other man go in his place.

Quotes
Tamekichi: [curious about Tashiro's work, which involves fortunetelling] Does fortunetelling work?
Tashiro: Of course it does. Nothing works better.
Tamekichi: Really? The other day you left home wearing rain boots, but the day turned out to be sunny.
Tashiro: Weather isn't my specialty. The weather forecast on the radio works well for that.

Connections
Featured in The Story of Film: An Odyssey: Birth of the Cinema (2011)

User reviews18

Featured review

8/10

Director Ozu returns after a five year break

Japanese drama from Shochiku and director Yasujiro Ozu. Poor second-hand merchant O-Tane (Choko Iida) is put in a tough spot when her neighbors bring her a very young boy (Hohi Aoki) and ask her to take care of him. It seems the child was abandoned, and after searching for some time, no family for him could be found. O-Tane angrily agrees, but her grumpy exterior slowly softens as she spends more time with the quiet child. Also featuring Chishu Ryu, Reikichi Kawamura, Takeshi Sakamoto, Mitsuko Yoshikawa, and Eitaro Ozawa.

This was Ozu's first film after a five year break during WW2. It seems a warm return home, as his style is intact, and many of the same familiar Shochiku players return. Ozu regular Iida gets a spotlight role as the cranky old widow who slowly warms to becoming a surrogate mother. The film is also of interest for its glimpse of post-war Japan, and the struggles and hardships of maintaining a life in the rubble left behind. My only complaint would that, at 71 minutes, it's a bit too short.