Early Summer (1951)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Early Summer (1951) – Y. Ozu

Ayako and I had a discussion about what the Japanese title “Bakushu” means – she thought it should signify “beer” and some homework reveals that the correct translation is probably “The Barley-Harvest Season” rather than “Early Summer”.  I’m not quite sure what is being harvested – possibly Noriko (played by Ozu regular Setsuko Hara) who is being urged to marry because at 28 she is at risk of becoming an old maid.  However, Noriko is a modern post-war Japanese woman who wants to make up her own mind.  However, her boss and her family conspire to match her with a rich (though 12 years older) businessman – who we never meet.  Indeed, Ozu very playfully includes numerous ellipses in the plot, never quite allowing us enough information to expect Noriko’s ultimate decision.  Although it comes as a surprise, this decision may actually have had a basis in experiences not shown in the film – that is, Noriko does spend offscreen time with her eventual husband, perhaps a considerable amount of time (and late in the film, some potentially pivotal time searching for her missing nephews with him).  As usual, Ozu also disorients the viewer with his camerawork, often cutting in ways that are distinctly different from the invisible Hollywood style that we know and sometimes from one place to another without warning.  His usual counterpoints are here:  traditional Japan vs. modern Japan, male vs. female, old vs. young, city vs. countryside – but they are used subtly to tell a story about the complexity of families (across three generations) and their sad but inevitable dissolution.