by Vedant Srinivas

“Record of A Tenement Gentleman” is one of Ozu's great early films, and one which was also screened last year at Cannes as part of their Classics section.

The plot outline of “Record”, like most of Ozu's works, is deceptively simple (and also full of comic touches). In post-war Japan, a man living in an impoverished Tokyo tenement brings home an abandoned child (Kohei). O-Tane, a hard-hearted widow living in the same tenement, is forced to take care of Kohei. In what follows, we gradually see O-Tane's change of heart, from her initial anger at Kohei's bedwetting, her endless tricks to get rid of the boy, to finally growing fond of him.

What is most remarkable is how each scene, character, and setting is ingrained with the disastrous after-effects of WW2. Tashiro, Tamekichi, and O-Tane, the three residents of the tenement we are introduced to, each...