Early Summer

Here the theme is change, and nearly everything said by nearly every character seems marked by an awareness of its inevitability, and its bittersweet duplicity. This filmmaker's ability to draw emotion from the smallest details is endlessly affecting, and mostly very delicate.

In Late Spring Noriko found herself a stringent idealist, a traditionalist, engaged in an impossible quest of self-denial until, eventually, she accepts loss. Here, she finds herself a modern woman. Where she was timid, she is now unabashed. Where she was bounded to her father, a patriach, she now is an individual, her family an afterthought. Speaking through contrasts to the first rendition of this story, Ozu shows, ever so subtly, something more real than the circumstances of a time and place.

A domestic tale typical of Ozu, but one that strikes me harder than most others I've seen. The underlying theme of generational conflict is woven with the simplest and most universal poignancies: leaving the family home, nostalgia for time gone by, old friends going their separate ways, a humorously oblivious uncle, callous and insensitive children. What anyone else would exploit for melodrama, Ozu treats naturally with leisure and subtlety.

An absolutely stunning film, easily one of my favorite Ozu's. I love the way the situation is set up quietly and slowly. It's like the characters sneak their way into your heart, and without any big revelation or "important moment" you find yourself completely emotionally and mentally engaged in their circumstances.

The final 40 or so minutes of this achieves and sustains an almost euphoric bittersweet beauty - a nostalgic longing for the present moment, anticipating its inevitable passing and the powerlessness we feel against it - punctuated by the transcendent final moments and shot. Possibly my favorite Ozu drama thus far.