A Straightforward Boy

A Straightforward Boy (1929) is a recently, 2016, discovered film by Japanese master director Yasujiro Ozu. The found comedy is a shorter version (13 minutes) of the 38 minute original movie, which remains lost, like many of his films shot before WWII. A Straightforward Boy is about a kidnapped young boy who turns out too troublesome for his captor. The boy is played by Japanese child actor Tomio Aoki, who also stared in Ozu’s 1932 I Was Born, But…. I always find the early Ozu films fascinating since they differ so greatly from the late-career family oriented dramas of the 50s and 60s.