Bakushû

"Early summer" maybe the most unknown of the "Noriko trilogy" ("Late spring" (1949), "Early summer" (1951) and "Tokyo story" (1953)), it is however certainly worthwile.

The films of Ozu are all about family relations. In the Noriko trilogy they are all about Noriko, a single (never married or widow) woman in her late twenties played by Setsuko Hara (in "Tokyo story" however the parents in law of Noriko also play at least an equally important part).

An important question in the Noriko trilogy is if and with whom Noriko ought to marry. The pre war idea that the upbringing of a girl ends with her marriage when the responsibility transfers from the parents to the husband clashes with the post war idea of the individual freedom of the young woman.

We see this clash not only in the story line but also in the set pieces (very important in an Ozu movie because he works with a static camera). We see the old father meditating in a traditional Japanese house. In another scene we see Noriko dining with some of her friends (some married and others still single) in a very modern restaurant (that almost looks '70s style to me).

"Early Summer" is the second of three films in which Setsuko Hara played a character named Noriko (the first was "Late Spring"; the third was "Tokyo Story"); in all three, the martial status of Noriko is a major plot device. In "Early Summer", as in "Late Spring", the problem is that Noriko is still unmarried, but in "Early Summer", Noriko is part of a large extended family, and their interactions, constant bickering, jovial meddling provide humorous counterpoint. "Early Summer" remains one of the most buoyant of Ozu's films, and shows how he can take the same theme and storyline, and create a comic as opposed to a dramatic work.

There are few lovers of serious cinema who do not consider "Tokyo "Story" a masterpiece. I, for one, would be prepared to place it among the "top ten" of all time. When I first saw it on British TV many years ago I was excited by the discovery of a form of cinema unlike any other. In the months that followed I began to experience frustration that no other of Ozu's fairly large output was available. At long last "Ohayu" turned up. I remember thinking it very inconsequential beside "Tokyo Story" but pleasing nonetheless, possibly Ozu not so much having an off-day as a day off. What I found remarkable however was its stylistic affinity to "Tokyo", the absence of camera movement, the prefacing of each dramatic sequence, generally taking place in a domestic interior shot from near-ground level, with two or three shots, often still-life exteriors with background music carried over into the next dialogue scene; in other words a director who is completely true to his own way of seeing things, as instantly recognisable from a single shot as are composers as diverse as Martinu, Rawsthorne and Roy Harris from one bar of their music. It is only recently that I have managed to catch up with five other Ozu films, each a gem in its own way but small in scale. "Early Summer" is a typical example. It deals with the same situation as "Late Spring", that of the pressures on a young woman by her family to get married. Ozu generally explores family relationships which, although hardly dysfunctional, abound in tensions. Here we have an elderly couple living with their doctor son and their unmarried daughter, the son's wife and their two small sons completing the household. An elderly uncle visits early on and neighbours and friends, particularly those of the unmarried daughter make up the rest of the cast played by a company of stock actors that appear in many of Ozu's films. Each generation responds to life in its own way. The elderly couple are disappointed particularly with the younger members of the family. They sit on park benches or in the privacy of their bedroom and sigh that, in spite of everything, things could be much worse and they should be happy with their lot. The middle generation get on with the business of living, often in a blinkered way so that we wonder whether they are aware of the tensions they so often generate. The children are completely selfish little monsters who cut up rough if they don't get their own way, as when they mistake a wrapped loaf of bread that their father brings home, for the model railway accessories they are hoping to receive. There is little in the way of plot other than that of the "Will she? Won't she?" variety. But for the enormous expectations raised by "Tokyo Story", I might well have passed "Early Summer" by. And yet there is a uniqueness and purity of style that somehow draws me back to these simple vignettes of Japanese domestic life again and again. Ozu has often been compared to Jane Austen, but would not a more appropriate analogy be the novels of Ivy Compton-Burnett. Both are the unique minimalists of their respective arts.

There is a great harmony in everything about this film, which has a Japanese family of three generations wondering if it's time for the 28-year-old daughter (Setsuko Hara) to get married, and proposing an opportune match. Director Yasujiro Ozu uses many of his trademarks, both in content (e.g. two rascally little boys adding a cute element) and in style (e.g. with regular use of those shots from the mat, directly into a character's face as he or she speaks). While some of those things and the overall primness of the film threatened to get on my nerves, I have to say, I enjoyed it, and it finished strong.

In the film, Ozu gives us lessons in being gentle, patient, and bearing with the inevitable changes in life, and he does it in a simple way. Hara seems to be constantly smiling and cheery which may seem a little one-dimensional, but she ultimately stands up for herself in her own, non-confrontational way. The conversation she has with her friend, where the two discuss whether a love based on trust and friendship is true love, is deeply meaningful. The conversation she has with her sister-in-law while they're at the beach, the only one Ozu ever used a crane for, and where they talk about sacrifice and living a life without a lot of money, is as well.

The film gradually builds you to these strong late scenes, so if you're less into it early on, I would encourage patience. The subtle way in which a possible marriage is discussed, and not directly by the two involved (being intentionally vague here), is both cute and an insight into the culture. There are also universal, sentimental themes. The mother and father (Chieko Higashiyama and Ichiro Sugai) turn in strong performances, and the scene where they talk about a son who was missing in action in the war is striking. Their posing for a family picture, all smiles and jovial between takes, but then looking solemn before the picture is taken, is fantastic. The father's silence and patience as events in his family unfold culminates eventually in him recognizing that we all wish we could stay together with family members as they are, but that things inevitably change. It's quite beautiful.

I am writing this minutes after I finished watching this lovely 1951 film on video, "Bakushu" ("Early Summer"). It is my first introduction to the work of Yasujiro Ozu, who directed and co-wrote the film. Ozu (b.1903, d.1963), who directed over 50 films from the 1920s-1960s, is probably most famous for his film "Tokyo Monogatari" ("Tokyo Story") of 1953, which is cited by some film critics as one of the ten best films made.

"Early Summer" is the second of three films in which Setsuko Hara plays an unmarried young woman, aged 28 in "Bakushu", named Noriko (also in Ozu's 1949 "Banshun" or "Late Spring", and in "Tokyo Story"). Her always beaming and confident smile, mischievous but loving laughter, and unselfish and loving manner are a constant joy to experience - she's the kind of person anybody would love to have as a friend. Noriko lives in post-WW II Tokyo as part of an extended family of her parents along her somewhat stern brother (a doctor) and his warm wife and their two spoiled young sons, aged approximately 3 and 6. The family partially depends on her income as an office clerk of sorts.

The central theme is the family's concern that carefree Noriko is unmarried. A proposal comes in from a man twelve years her senior; the family feels this is a great opportunity that they hope she will respond positively to. How she takes all this in stride and works through the gentle pressure of getting married is the plot of the film, but the understated, low-key and low-angle camera shots make what might otherwise be an unexceptional story sweetly captivating and delightful.

I am reminded in this film of my favorite director, Satyajit Ray. Like Ray, at least in "Bakushu", Ozu very effectively uses minimal dialogue, little or no music, and subtlety to draw the viewer into the setting and paint a realistic picture of everyday life.

I felt instant connection with Setsuko Hara as vivacious and indomitable Noriko. Her brother, Koichi (Chishu Ryu) was impeneterably unemotional, probably stereotypically so. Koichi's wife, Aya Tamura (Chikage Awashima) seemed a tamer version of Noriko, almost like an older sister from the same roots. The parents Shukichi Mamiya (Ichiro Sugai) and his wife Shige (Chieko Higashiyama) were realistically portrayed as being content in fulfilling their familial responsibilities, and provided an even emotional keel.

If this is at all typical of Yasujiro Ozu's films, then I am anxious to seek out and start to enjoy his many other creations. The film moves at life's pace, but Ozu transforms what might be a moderately interesting peek into one family's life into a rich and delightful tapestry.

--Dilip Barman Sept. 21, 2003