"Exams are only a game of astuteness", says one of the characters in I Flunked, But... which describes exactly the attitude of most of the characters in this funny but sometimes surprisingly crude offering. Takahashi, his pals, and his roommates all take their final college exams. They cheat by writing down notes on the back of one of Takashi's pals' shirt and relaying the answers from one to the other. After Takashi prepares another shirt for the next day's test, the house lady takes it to the dry cleaners. Takahashi and all his pals flunk, while his roommates all pass. But, unable to find employment, they long for the care-free days of college, while Takahashi and his gang become cheerleaders.
I Flunked, But... is a straight forward college comedy that touches on a few themes Ozu will develop later on in his career. Male bonding is obviously of great concern here, as the film features only one single female character, but it is not really developed. The altering nature of time is another theme that is hinted at. But contrary to The Only Son, where the passing of time is something that has to be endured and has an exclusively negative outcome, I Flunked, But... exhibits a more positive approach where melancholy functions as romantic reminiscing, as the four roommates think back to their time as benchwarmers. Although they are unemployed, there is no social commentary, no despair, no lesson to be learned. Ozu also seems to introduce the idea that time passes more quickly when one is young and is having a good time. The bleak reality of life - finding a job, having to shoulder responsibilities- decelerates time considerably, making the adult life all the more dull. Ozu illustrates this by juxtaposing Takahashi and his pals having a good time as cheerleaders at their school with the four unemployed roommates staring at a clock that doesn't seem to move, wishing they were back hitting the books (which also introduces the theme of college as a reformative time that will later be featured in Tokyo Chorus).
It is important to point out this cross cutting, not only because Ozu will abandon this stylistic pirouette altogether later on, but because, in this instance, he uses it as a narrative agent. In the first half of the film, Ozu frequently uses tracking shots of lined up or sitting students that accentuate the unity of the student corps, and their shared destiny. Once the results of the exams are announced, Ozu uses cross cutting to accentuate Takahashi's and his roommates' now diverging life lines. With relatively few intertitles, Ozu shows with I Flunked, But... a commanding sense of visual narration. Another example is the film poster of Charming Sinners that hangs on the wall of Takahasi's dorm. Not only is it a humorous commentary on the mischieveous behavior of Takahashi and his friends, but it also features the two main characters of that film in an embrace. Once Takahashi's girlfriend brings him food to eat and a clean shirt, he hangs the shirt on the wall, covering most of the poster, leaving out only the two lovers - a direct comment on the lovebird's relationship. Later, after Takahashi flunked, the shirt, returned from the cleaners but still adorning some of the cheating notes, hangs there again, almost accusatory, reminding Takashi that he deceived his girlfriend.
Despite all of Ozu's narrative mastery, I Flunked, But... is startlingly clumsy at times. The most shocking example of unconfident framing is given after the first exam scene, as Takahashi and his pals all walk in unison towards the camera. Ozu tracks back but doesn't keep everyone in frame, panning shakily back and forth over the five men. Not only does he use two camera movements rarely employed later in his career, but its very use appears sloppy to me. Other instances of unfocused framing and lighting occur later in the film as well. For all their humor and funny moments, the two pivotal exam scenes that show the students' elaborate cheating methods (that also introduce the theme of defiance of authority) seem to have been used by Ozu as a kind of rehearsal and springing board for Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth? which features much more intricately staged cheating scenes from the point of view of editing and story as well.
Maybe I am missing something, but with a 65-minute playing time and relatively little substance, I Flunked, But... feels like a minor effort from Ozu, who would put a lot of the elements already present here to much better use in subsequent films. It is nonetheless an enjoyable offering.
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