Primavera precoz

"Early spring" is a film from the latter part of the career of Yasujiro Ozu. Normally the age of the lead character develops in line with the age of Ozu himself. With a lead character in its early 30s "Early spring" is an exception.

The films of Yasujiro Ozu are all about family relations. An extramarital relationship, as in "Early spring", is very rare and for Ozu rather daring (how innocent it may seem to us in todays eyes).

Both exceptions may well have something to do with a rivalry between the two Japanese studios Shochiku (the studio of Ozu) and Daiei, were Shuchiko was losing ground to Daiei.

More unexpected to me was the negative tone about office work in the movie. At the beginning of the movie we see clerks travelling to their office and the emphasis is laid on their massiveness and anonymity. Later in the film some office clerks are talking to each other and confess that their work is rather dull and only the game of mahjong after work is done is giving them some fun. Last but not least at the end of the film some older colleages advise the lead character not to put all his cards on his career. His mentor even says that it is more important to be loyal to your wife than to your employer, because the last mentioned loyalty is bound to be unreciprocal. Al this is a far cry from what I thought to know about work ethic during Japanese reconstruction. As a faithfull chronicler of the Japanese middle class post World War II Ozu probably sensed the changing cultue correctly.

The technique and form of Ozu is, as always, impeccable. The tranquil pace, the intermediate shots without characters and the careful composition of the images in the characteristic low camera angle Ozu style. All this is in no way inferior to "Tokyo story" (1953), his more well known masterpiece from 3 years earlier.

Early Spring came between Ozu's incredible masterpieces Tokyo Story and Tokyo Twilight. No surprise then, that it kind of falls flat in places. It's by no means a bad film, but it adds a bit too much complexity, making the focus confusing at points. The film starts as a comment on the salary man. The opening scenes are both funny and sad, as we see the empty streets of Japan gradually fill with men and women in white shirts. They all come together at the subway station, and then we see two men in an office building looking down at the madness below. These are the kind of details one must love about Ozu. It is all represented there on the screen, and without many words we know what is going on. As the film continues we see the workers on their breaks and finally arranging a weekend trip. On this trip is where the real story begins. A young married man named Shoji is attracted to a young girl nicknamed "Goldfish". They are unable to hide their attraction, as their colleagues start spreading rumors and noticing the smiles between the two. Eventually they give into their temptation. It's the effects after this betrayal that are the key focus. The young girl is surprised that she develops emotions, while Shoji is instantly ashamed of himself. His guilt soon grows, and he avoids his wife. Because of this his wife begins to suspect he is cheating on her. The film shows how destructive guilt can be. As Shoji tries to keep his mind off the affair, he ends up forgetting the anniversary of his son's death. The film is too long for its material. There simply isn't enough going on in the middle, and too much at the beginning and end. What it does offer is Ozu's look at relationships without the arrangement of a marriage. Instead, this shows the hard work and commitment a marriage takes. A theme that was handled a lot more competently and economically in his next feature.

"Early Spring" is one of the lesser-known Ozu films, but it is worth watching to complete his view of post-war Japan, and the complexities of returning to daily life. When "Early Spring" was released, Japan was two years into its independence from American occupying forces. Tokyo and other major cities were rebuilding. Lives were getting back to some kind of order -- and with that, the challenges of dealing with a group think society also were present.

The relationships in this movie show the influence traditional Japan still held on modern life. The closeness of the wife and her mother; the courtesy that the husband shows the mother in law, even as he simply drops his clothes to the floor for his wife to pick up; the traditional house with few conveniences. For anyone interested in Japanese cuisine, the preparation of oden (a kind of winter stew) is a textbook lesson, but it also weaves in with the plot.

"Early Spring" lacks the humor and grace of "Early Summer" and it is not as masterful as "Tokyo Story" but it offers an interesting look at the lives of the young salarymen and office girls, at a time when Japan's post-war culture was solidifying. It would be interesting to see a remake, because Japanese life has changed, and yet has remained much the same.

I consider Yasujiro Ozu one of the worlds most significant and distinctive directors, a man who eschews false dazzle in favor of examining the human condition, human relationships; most of his films are quietly incisive portraits of people coming to conclusions and making decisions which will permanently affect their lives. Ozu imparts subtlety to his characters, his sense of time and place are impeccable, and his respect for his characters unparalleled. All of that said, I think that Early Spring is one of his least effective--one easily sees the point he makes about corporate behavior and marital infidelity, but this one, rather than quietly contemplative, struck me as merely slow. The characters too often lack any redeeming qualities, and yet we are apparently supposed to care about them for more than two hours, difficult when there is so little to work with--Early Spring is certainly not a stinker, by any means, but for me, a lesser Ozu, and if you want to start with something more characteristic, begin with either version of Floating Weeds, or with his masterpiece, Tokyo Story.

Soshun / Early Spring (1956) : Brief Review -

Ozu's handful take on working class issues is more about adjustments than ethics and encouragement. Soshun is another fine film from Yasujiro Ozu who is master in handling such stories based on small parts life but it definitely lacks the walling and hardness. A young man and his wife struggle within the confines of their passionless relationship while he has an extramarital romance. The film is about three things, one is passionless married life, two is corporate office issues faced by working class post World War and third is unethical Extramarital affair. Usually, we see Ozu handling one story at a time and giving full justice to it but here he gets three stories and that's why couldn't give full justice to any of them. In numerical analysis i would say he gives 70% justice to each story and those remaining 30% is what we didn't expect from him. The bigger problem is, it doesn't have any inspiring and encouraging ending which might have given hope to be better in life, rather it is about getting yourself adjusted with the wrongs. I don't see how a wife can really manage to live with the husband after knowing his affair or could it be really possible even in imagination? The better side of the film is it's non-narrative nature just like other Ozu films. You can't blame him much because he doesn't choose narratives, instead he chooses just a small part from a life and brings it to the silver screen. One can't deny Ozu's master storytelling here and for that he deserves Full Marks. Enough about Ozu, actually Soshun is a much better film because of its actors. I mean watching every actor performing seamless even after weakened storyline is such a great thing, no? The cinematography in Ozu films never disappoints and Soshun is no difference. Yet another triumph for the artist behind the camera. In simple words, it's Very Good and that's the best i can say.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest