This early talkie feature from Yasujiro Ozu deals with the difficult transition from the end of adolescence to adulthood. A group of friends in their final year of college prepare for graduation. Buoyed by their hopes for the future, they celebrate and have a good time. After graduation passes, they return to their hometowns and begin searching for work. One by one they all realize, ironically, that while college was a nice place, the real world is not. Their attempts to secure jobs prove fruitless and they descend into poverty. The symbolic nadir of the film occurs when one of them must pawn his new suit in order to eat -- which means that he can no longer look for respectable work. Those looking for copies of this movie are out of luck. At this time, there are no known surviving prints, although the Tokyo Film Archive does hold a preliminary script in its collection.
by Brian Whitener
synopsis
