The films of Yasujiro Ozu are films I feel compelled to come back to again and again. They had a deep effect on me when I first viewed them in my early twenties, I was just out of college and had spent my life obsessed with movies thinking I had seen every type of film imaginable, but then I learned of Ozu. Ozu opened up a whole new world for me and not only influenced the way I look at films, but also the way I look at life. Over the years since I've discovered him, Ozu has become more and more relevant in the film world, and has even become a bigger part of the mainstream than ever before. His films were largely unavailable to western audiences until the 1970s, and since then his reputation has grown. Just recently his masterpiece "Tokyo Story" was picked number one in the Sight and Sound directors list of the greatest films of all time, and number three in the critics list right behind "Vertigo" and "Citizen Kane". I mention this only as a pleasure to know that Ozu's films continue to grow in stature and popularity, and as a fan of his, it's good to see his films are reaching out to further audiences than ever before.
Like all of my favorite directors, it is probably impossible for me to pick a favorite of Ozu's films, I see them mostly as a full body of work, that depict universal, and profound themes of family, marriage, loneliness, old age, and dying. Ozu in particular has created a form of composition that remained consistent throughout his films, as if he's dealing with the same motifs over and over again. This probably accounts for the one criticism brought up about him most often, that his films are all the same.
However Ozu, who's imagery remained subtle and delicate told a wide variety of different stories, but he usually revisited the same theme. Such is the theme of marriage, which Ozu came back to very often, and is at the core of his film "Early Summer". "Early Summer" came soon after another famous film about marriage by Ozu entitled "Late Spring"; that film dealt with the relationship between a daughter and her widowed father. In "Late Spring", the idea of marriage is brought up as a way to tear the father and daughter apart, neither wants to leave the other, yet the father knows if she is not married by a certain age, she will end up alone, and he is closer to the end of his life than the beginning.
"Early Summer" covers much of the same territory, the daughter is played by the same woman from "Late Spring", Setsuko Hara, who was Ozu's favorite actress, and in fact both characters have the same name Noriko. As in "Late Spring", Noriko is seen as getting on in years, and it is in her best interest that she get married soon. Yet, "Early Summer" is a far more ambitious film than "Late Spring" was as far as canvas goes. The family depicted in this film is a large extended one involving Noriko, her older brother, sister in-law, their two kids, and a mother and father. The film begins with every one living under the same roof, and there is the feeling of a real fully functional family going on. The plot element of Noriko getting married isn't even brought up until very much later in the film.
It's the family unit that gets the most attention, as we see how everyone is placed within it. The brother is a doctor, Noriko herself works in an office building, the wife looks after the kids, and the parents seem to be a pleasant retired couple. Everything happens organically, with what seems to be Ozu effortlessly keeping the story moving without ever pushing for something to happen. There is occasional chit chat of Noriko getting married, but not much is made out of it until half way through the film when the story takes that direction.
Noriko is then persuaded by her family to consider marrying a prospective bachelor, and even though there is a big age difference, (He is said to be 42 while she is 28) they think it's the best arrangement for her. However, we are never told of Noriko's own intentions, she is seen as a bit passive about this arrangement, nothing is said if she wants to go along with it, or if she doesn't, but then out of the blue she makes her own decision. Despite her families wishes, she decides to marry an old childhood friend, who has since become widowed and lives with his young child and mother. When the family hears about this, there is a deep resentment towards Noriko, they do not understand why she would choose a widower with a child, which would be deemed a lesser choice, to make matters worse, he has just been transferred out of town, which would mean Noriko would leave her family to be with him. Even Noriko's choice of this man is left ambiguous to the audience, we are left to wonder why she chose him and in such an impulsive manner. Unlike the loyal daughter in "Late Spring" who would never dream of leaving her father's side, this one seems to be making the radical choice for herself. But we aren't totally sure about Noriko's true feelings for this man she has picked for herself, there is talk of an admiration for him, and a genuine trust, but we are left unsure if there is a love there. Part of the reason she picked him might be because of the man's mother, who Noriko feels for and wants to keep company, and she above anyone else in the film is probably most excited to see them married.
But the fact that we don't get these questions answered is Ozu's own way of avoiding melodrama, he never goes for scenes of that matter, what he gets instead is pathos and a deeper understanding of how life works, and the little tragedies that sometimes come with it. Like "Late Spring", we never see the actual marriage of Noriko, instead, we see a bridal procession walk by her parents window which remind them of her. That is a perfect Ozu moment of subtlety, and minimalism, we don't have to see the event to know it's happened, it's not necessary.
Ozu has a way of developing his themes cinematically, and they are usually within his compositions which are always compelling to look at as if it were a real painting or photograph. Take one such scene in "Early Summer" where Noriko's family is upset with her for marrying someone they do not approve. In the scene, Noriko has not entered yet, the family is seen together in the living room; Noriko announces she is home, suddenly everyone takes their leave from the room, there is no contact with her whatsoever. Noriko notices this, she says nothing, she moves to the kitchen where she eats by herself, she is filmed from far away with Ozu showing the empty room and her isolation. A wide shot to show someone alone is commonly used in film to illustrate their isolation, yet Ozu is always able to take it a step further. I think it has something to do with the fact that we know why Noriko is alone, we have seen the reason why she is by herself at that very moment, and perhaps we are a little surprised that it has come to this, and it always seems inevitable that it would, it also helps when a scene such as this was expertly photographed, as if you are looking at the essence of loneliness.
To think of it, you might examine an Ozu film as very anti-mainstream, but I was surprised to learn that his films were widely popular to Japanese audiences. Ozu, like his contemporaries, Kurosawa, and Mizoguchi worked in there own Hollywood version of a studio system, which meant they were able to work with the biggest stars, and make their own sets on back lots. Yet the difference being that unlike Hollywood which was more Producer-centric, Japan was more director-centric, which meant a person like Ozu had more freedom creatively, he was able to take these themes and play with them, and he was able to create a full body of work because of it.
I've summed up my feelings about Yasujiro Ozu on this blog before, I treasure his films probably more than any other, there is something inherently calming about them. I wanted to add a quote about Ozu by Roger Ebert who died recently but who was the man who first introduced me to Ozu through his essays about him. In his review of Ozu's film "Floating Weeds", Ebert says "When you see his films, you feel in the arms of a serenely confident and caring master. In his stories about people who live far away, you recognize, in one way or another, everyone you know.
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