Our lives would be easier without exams.
1929's Days of Youth was Yasujiro Ozu's sixth feature, but as it's his earliest surviving film, it might as well be the first. Presented by Criterion on its Hulu channel with no sound whatsoever -- which takes a little getting used to, but is no impediment to getting into the story -- this lighthearted comedy follows two university students of differing temperaments as they compete for the attention of an available young lady. There's studious, put-upon laughingstock Yamamoto (Tatsuo Saitô), and Watanabe (Ichirô Yûki), his freeloading goof-off of a "friend" who continually takes advantage of and undermines him, especially where their mutual acquaintance Chieko (Junko Matsui) is concerned. (I suppose it isn't hard to guess where my sympathies lie.)
The first half of the film, which is mostly concerned with Yamamoto and Watanabe's preparations for a big exam, gives Ozu time to insert scenes of classic slapstick-style comedy like the one where Yamamoto gets black paint on his hand while attempting to chat up Chieko and proceeds to get it all over everything he touches while trying to hide it from her. In another, after getting Chieko to move into his room, Watanabe makes a harried moving man cart his belongings all over town until he imposes himself on Yamamoto. There are many more opportunities for physical comedy in the second half, though, which relocates the action to a ski resort where expert Watanabe demonstrates his fondness for knocking other people off-balance. Not that Yamamoto needs much help in that department since he confesses straight off that he's not a good skier, which means he has little chance of impressing Chieko even before Watanabe steps up his efforts to sabotage him. Before all is said done, though, they're both taken out of the running, which is another way of saying neither of them was ever in it to begin with. Chalk that up to the folly of youth.