Film

I Flunked, But… (1930)

Director: Yasujiro Ozu

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Hard-up students pool resources and cheating methods to get through 'exam hell' at their college, but when a shirt inscribed with the answers is accidentally packed off to the laundry, it's bad news for unfortunate Sato. This silent Ozu starts off in breezy mode with lots of funny walks and wizard wheezes from the chaps, later turning unexpectedly poignant when the Depression-hit economy leaves even the successful students unemployed and wishing they could get back to their studies. All rather delightful in a lighter style from the later domestic dramas, with Tanaka the soul of kindness as the café girl next door, a boyish-looking Ryu among the passing students, and a memorable bit of business with an old gramophone, which the lads' use it as a roulette wheel to decide who stumps up for dinner.

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