Early Summer (1951)

Shochiku
Director: Yasujirō Ozu
Starring: Setsuko Hara, Chishū Ryū, Chikage Awashima

American cinema devotees have a tendency to to overlook the historic nature of motion pictures beyond their home market with perhaps the exception beginning in the later decades of the 20^th century. Impact of WWII on eastern cultures are often overlooked by western audiences and here in Yasujirō Ozu’s Early Summer we get a glimpse of how Japan progressed in the years immediately following this global conflict. The internal struggle of societal roles and generational shifts is the focus of the feature that is poignant and touching, shared in a medium that can speak beyond languages and borders.

 

Early Summer is a Japanese drama about young woman finding her place in her family and society that tests traditions in an evolving post-World War II Japan. Living within a traditional, multigenerational Japanese household along with her brother, his family, and their parents, 28 year-old Noriko finds herself under the insistence that she should have settled down and been married by her age. When her boss recommends to her a possible match with a friend of his, a Tokyo businessman, Noriko’s family begins to pressure her to accept, feeling it is best for her and the family. Noriko, however accepts the proposal to an old friend, a widower and single father, not an ideal choice for a woman’s first marriage. Also, he is a physician who is posted to soon be relocated far from Tokyo in Japan’s rural countryside, a great distance from all that she has known. Noriko’s family is devastated with her choice sensing the decision was quick and selfish without consulting them, worried it will split her off from the family, Insistent, Noriko makes it clear she made her own decision and they eventually accept. The family gather together one last time for a touching family photograph before Noriko moves away. To close, Noriko’s parents ponder the change of traditions as they are seen peacefully retired to a rural home.

 

This drama shines a light on the changes following great events of the world and the evolution of societal norms. Here in Early Summer we experience a beautiful film manifesting breaks from traditional Japanese customs with the influence brought in by the nation’s recent fall from WWII, as well as generational differences. Western culture has affected eastern traditions, allowing for new freedom of thought and practices that go against conventions held by previous generations. In the end it is a story of self-discovery and love despite differences in society and traditions. Yasujirō Ozu’s artistically simple filmmaking creates a home and life that emotes familiarity until the story calls for change, where he delivers camera movement with smooth tracking shots that signify the change experienced by the audience. Wonderfully written and performed, with a cast of characters that could come out of any normal home, we experience a touching motion picture that speak to multiple generations.

 

A follow up to Ozu’s 1949 film Late Spring, this film features many similarities to is predecessor. Rifts between generations continue as the theme as the two films feature many similar castings. The most notable similarity is the casting of Setsuko Hara again as a character named Noriko, although the two stories are mutually exclusive from each other. This picture focus more on a woman’s plight and her discovery of independence, a non-traditional trait among eastern culture. The story focuses on the shifting nature from one generation to another in the wake of an evolving Japanese society and its view on the family unit in a post war setting.

 

Returning players to the Ozu production are number of his favorites, including Chishū Ryū as Noriko’s traditionally focused brother, Kuniko Miyake as the sister-in-law in which the family wants her to follow in tradition, and Haruko Sugimura as the friend and embracing mother of the man she decides to marry. They are joined by Chikage Awashima who portrays Noriko’s best friend out and shares similar issues from being a single woman past the normal age of being wed, as she becomes a new player to the director’s stable of preferred performers. Also featured are the talents of Ichiro Sugai and Chieko Higashiyama and Noriko’s loving parents that must understand their daughter is creating a life of her own, sharing a great deal emotional change in the full scope of the story.

 

 Ozu’s filmmaking style keeps the camera mostly locked down and from a relatively low angle. Mimicking the height of one’s head from a traditional sitting position on the floor, his style keeps the angle familiar to the audience he was capturing for. Throughout the home, the setting where most of the story is told, we view though multilayered angles, down short halls and through doorways, delivering an intimate setting for a well lived in the family home. The moment when Ozu breaks from his fixed angles with movement make for poignant moments in the story, none more so than that a single crane shot on a dune of a beach crested by Noriko, signifying her change into a new horizon, breaking from that which she has always known.

 

Openly received in 1951, Early Summer would with time become of the highest regarded motion pictures in Japanese cinematic history. Yasujirō Ozu would continue his journey of Noriko tales with a 1953’s Tokyo Story which once again stars Setsuko Hara, forming a somewhat of a trilogy of sorts even though the stories are independent of each other. Tokyo Story would go on to surpass Early Summer in status among Ozu’s works, and considered one of the perennial works in Japan. Both film and filmmaker are great example of Japanese contribution to cinema and perfect example of how the medium of this creator has influenced beyond his years.