I WAS BORN, BUT... Ozu's Masterpiece w/ Cello Score by Lori Goldston

Name: I WAS BORN, BUT... Ozu's Masterpiece w/ Cello Score by Lori Goldston
Start: 2025-10-04T19:00:00-04:00
Location: Epsilon Spires

Schedule

Sat, 04 Oct, 2025 at 07:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Epsilon Spires | Brattleboro, VT

Cellist Lori Goldston (famously of Nirvana's MTV Unplugged) performs an original live soundtrack to one of Japan’s most treasured silents by celebrated director Yasujirō Ozu. "I Was Born, But..." is a charmingly comedic, poignant and sublime evocation of the tumult of childhood.
One of Yasujirō Ozu's most popular films, I Was Born, But . . . (1932, 90 mins) is an utterly charming, hilarious and profound silent comedy about childhood displaying the socially-astute, yet playful side of Ozu while showcasing his expertly-timed comedic editing. The story is told from the perspective of two mischievous little boys who discover a bitter truth: While everyone is born with great expectations for themselves, the majority of us end up leading mediocre lives of unremarkable routine, constrained by hierarchies. Tackling contemporary subject matter with a quietly barbed comedic sensibility, this was Ozu’s breakout film, setting the stage for his subsequent career as the great chronicler of 20th century Japanese family life.
ARTIST BIO:
Classically trained and rigorously de-trained, possessor of a restless, semi-feral spirit, Lori Goldston is a cellist, composer, improvisor, producer, writer and teacher from Seattle. Her voice as a cellist, amplified or acoustic, is full, textured, committed and original. A relentless inquirer, her work drifts freely across borders that separate genre, discipline, time and geography.
Current and former collaborators and/or bosses include Earth, Nirvana, Mirah, Jessika Kenney, Ilan Volkov, Eyvind Kang, Stuart Dempster, David Byrne, Terry Riley, Jherek Bischoff, Malcom Goldstein, Steve Von Till, Lonnie Holley, Cat Power, Ellen Fullman, Maya Dunietz, Mik Quantius, Embryo, O Paon, Tara Jane O’Neil, Natacha Atlas, Broken Water, Ed Pias, Christian Rizzo and Sophie Laly, Threnody Ensemble, Cynthia Hopkins, 33 Fainting Spells, Vanessa Renwick, Mark Mitchell, Lynn Shelton, and many more.
Her work has been commissioned by and/or performed at the Kennedy Center, Sydney Festival, Cineteca Nacional de México, Tectonics Festival, Frye Art Museum, Time Based Art Festival (TBA), WNYC, The New Foundation, Paris Fashion Week, Northwest Film Forum, On the Boards, Seattle International Film Festival, Seattle Jewish Film Festival, Bumbershoot, Crossing Border Festival, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, Joe’s Pub, the Stone, University of Chicago, and venues large and small throughout North America, Mexico, Australia, and Europe. Lori has previously performed live soundtacks at Epsilon Spires for Carl Dreyer's THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (1928), Benjamin Christensen’s Häxan (1922), Harry Smith's Heaven and Earth Magic, and Carl Dreyer's VAMPYR (1932).
CRITICAL ACCLAIM:
“That it is a small masterpiece, perfect indesign and execution, almost goes without saying, but the film’s profundity and its charm go hand in hand.”– A.O. Scott, The New York Times
"Usually described as a comedy, I Was Born, But… has been compared to Hal Roach’s Our Gang series. Yet it is much more, reflecting a tumultuous 1930s Japan being shorn of its traditions. Ozu masterfully uses schoolboy politics to mock the hypocrisies of adult hierarchies." -Brian Darr, San Francisco Silent Film Festival
“Coming of age, as Ozu shows us, is an experience without clearly identifiable points of origin or closure; it’s meant to be struggled with, argued for and against, debated with, resisted and seduced by, repudiated and advocated for. In I WAS BORN BUT…, it’s an experience that sticks.”- Ricky D’Ambrose, Slant Magazine
"I Was Born, But... explores the ways the world works, the principles that underlie social interaction and the social fabric. Part of what makes Ozu such a warm, intelligent, human filmmaker is his understanding that the systems that erode our ideals are beyond the control of the individual, and that what's important is to live our lives on earth as it is, as best we can." -David McDougall- MUBI