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"Late Spring" remains possibly Ozu's perfect depiction of postwar Japanese family life; this study of a widower (Chishu Ryu) and his unmarried daughter (Setsuko Hara) and the societal pressures to conform (they are happy with their lives, but all their friends and relatives think the daughter must get married) is full of subtle humor, gentle poignancy, and sharp insights. The ending, with the father left all alone, is devastating: it is difficult to express in words how the act of peeling an apple can be made to convey so much emotion, but Ozu's mastery is such that he is able to make this gesture seem as earth-shattering as the most special-effects laden action climax.

The revelation of Noriko's wedding dress is perhaps the most powerfully painful moment of cinema I've ever experienced. The contrast between her freedom before her wedding, the moving camera (very foreign to Ozu) her range of emotion, her geographical and social freedom, and the deeply disturbing oppression that her wedding signals is very affecting. It is gutting. And so devastating that she accepts her oppression. Powerful, if needing commitment and patience. Especially the six minutes of the impenetrable Noh play.

I've watched this film many times and love it very much. Ozu made Hara perfectly beautiful in this film. Noriko devoted her father and didn't want to marry because of him. He would be lonely if she married. Father and daughter lived happily together, but when she saw an elegant widow at Noh theather, she had jealousy. Hara Setsuko's acting was perfect as Noriko who was in love with her own father. No other actress could act like that. She was only Noriko. So director Ozu didn't change her role name Noriko for Setsuko Hara. Noriko in Banshun(Late Spring), Noriko in Bakushu(Early Summer),Noriko in Tokyo Monogatari(Tokyo Story) and I am Noriko as Setuko Hara's No.1 fan in Japan.

Yasujiro Ozu has been hailed as one of the great masters of cinema for years. I have to agree with those film scholars and critics because Late Spring is a prime example of good cinema. Everything in this film flows like a gentle river. I was fascinated and completely thrilled by every second of this great work of art. Setsuko Hara and Chishu Ryu are just wonderful. You just have to forget about classical Hollywood montage and editing, you will not find any of those rules here. The master create all new ones and I guarantee that if you try one, you will want to see more of his films. This was the third work by Ozu that I had the chance to watch and I can't hardly wait to see another one.

Sincerely, I urge anybody that love cinema to see this one, quite simply one of the greatest films I have seen. 10/10

"Late Spring" (Japanese, 1949): Every time I see another Yasujiro Ozu film, I am more amazed and further impressed. As a director, he was a master of understated elegance. Think of him as a moving wood block print, or an extended Haiku poem. His images, symbols, photography, composition, editing, dialog, story… they're all controlled to a masterful degree, and patiently lead you from one point to another. "Late Sprint" is the story about an older daughter who has never left her father. She is completely satisfied to stay at home caring for him (the mother died many years earlier). Everyone is concerned about her, applies pressure, and she resists. The father realizes it is he alone who might convince her to enter Life on new terms. Do NOT take Ozu's landscapes and city scenes as mere non-story scenery. Instead, watch for them to represent current conditions, emotions, and truths.