DVDs in Review

Early Summer (Yasujirô Ozu, 1951)

Title: Early Summer (Yasujirô Ozu, 1951)

Release date: July 19 2010

Certificate: U

Format: Dual Format Blu-ray and DVD

RRP: £19.99

Rating: 4/5

Reviewed by Dave Lancaster

Fitting in just after 1949’s ‘Late Spring’ and just before his universally renowned classic ‘Tokyo Story’, Ozu’s ‘Early Summer’ is brilliantly understated little film. Like ‘Late Spring’, this second part of the pseudo-trilogy tells the tale of a young woman finding love, somewhat contrasting with the wishes of those close to her.

It centres on Noriko (Setsuko Hara), an almost too nice 28-year-old woman who in some respects is still a girl. Her family attempts to lead her into marrying, possibly to bring her out of her fragile shell. Ozu treats day-to-day family life as if it represents the whole of Japan coming to terms with the end of the second world war, seeing if its culture and tradition can survive while American influence seeps in. Noriko is a symbol of the liberated Japanese woman.

Naturally she shuns the advice and matchmaking of her family and opts for a neighbor and old friend, but in pursuing her heart she neglects to tell her family of the choice she has made. This results in simmering conflict, with tradition being exchanged for (quiet) passion. Directions are getting crossed; small acts create large diversions.

Ozu’s trademark still camerawork is given a little more freedom in this film, but the pacing is still as slow as his other works of this period. The plot too is almost non-existent. It makes his films almost like a test of endurance. You have to let yourself go by shifting from the edge of your seat to the comfort of its back. But if you do, make sure you had enough sleep the night before.