Late Spring (1949) Banshun (original title)

Director:

Yasujirô Ozu

Writers:

Kazuo Hirotsu (based on the novel "Chichi to musume" by)
Kôgo Noda (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

21 July 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Noriko is 27 years old and still living with her widowed father. Everybody tries to talk her into marrying, but Noriko wants to stay taking care of her father.

Plot Keywords:

Widower | Marriage | Baseball Bat | Spinster | Affection

Awards:

5 wins

Cast

Chishû Ryû	...	Shukichi Somiya
Setsuko Hara	...	Noriko Somiya
Yumeji Tsukioka	...	Aya Kitagawa
Haruko Sugimura	...	Masa Taguchi
Hohi Aoki	...	Katsuyoshi
Jun Usami	...	Shôichi Hattori
Kuniko Miyake	...	Akiko Miwa
Masao Mishima	...	Jo Onodera
Yoshiko Tsubouchi	...	Kiku
Yôko Katsuragi	...	Misako
Toyo Takahashi	...	Shige (as Toyoko Takahashi)
Jun Tanizaki	...	Seizô Hayashi
Ichirô Shimizu	...	Takigawa's master
Yôko Benisawa	...	Teahouse Proprietress
Manzaburo Umewaka	...	Shite
Nobu Nojima	...	Waki
Ichiro Kitamura	...	Little drum
Haruo Yasufuku	...	Big drum
Soichi Konparu
Tadaichi Aoki	...	Prompter
Nagahiro Yoshida
Seiju Kanze	...	Nô chorus
Shintaro Umewaka	...	Nô chorus
Shizuo Kanze	...	Nô chorus
Seiji Toda	...	Nô chorus
Kozo Fukuda	...	Nô chorus
Shinichiro Takayama	...	Nô chorus
Seinosuke Ishida	...	Nô chorus
Yutaka Aoki	...	Nô chorus
Kinzo Hasegawa	...	Nô chorus
Gazan Hasegawa	...	Nô chorus
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mikuma Shimada	...	Flute

Directed by
Yasujirô Ozu

Writing credits
Kazuo Hirotsu		(based on the novel "Chichi to musume" by)
Kôgo Noda		(screenplay) and
Yasujirô Ozu		(screenplay)

Produced by
Takeshi Yamamoto	....	producer

Original Music by
Senji Itô

Cinematography by
Yûharu Atsuta

Film Editing by
Yoshiyasu Hamamura

Art Direction by
Tatsuo Hamada

Set Decoration by
Mototsugu Komaki

Costume Design by
Bunjiro Suzuki

Makeup Department
Hisae Kakizawa	....	hair stylist
Toku Sakuma	....	key hair stylist
Kingorô Yoshizawa	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Dai Watanabe	....	executive in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Buichi Saito	....	assistant director
Kôzô Tashiro	....	assistant director
Shôkichi Tsukamoto	....	assistant director
Kôzô Yamamoto	....	assistant director

Art Department
Makoto Aihara	....	assistant property master
Masao Kumagai	....	assistant art director
Kakuzô Sasu	....	assistant set designer
Kintaro Yamamoto	....	set designer
Tetsuji Yamazaki	....	assistant property master

Sound Department
Yoshiomi Hori	....	sound recordist
Rokusaburô Saitô	....	sound effects editor
Hidetaka Sasaki	....	sound
Hirofumi Satô	....	sound recordist
Yoshisaburô Senoo	....	sound mixer
Kôjirô Suematsu	....	sound recordist
Ryô Ôfuji	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Akira Aomatsu	....	assistant camera
Seiji Inoue	....	assistant photographer
Haruo Isono	....	gaffer
Takashi Kawamata	....	assistant photographer
Takeo Matsuda	....	assistant photographer
Motoshige Oikawa	....	assistant photographer
Yoshiji Shagawa	....	assistant photographer
Shigeo Suzuki	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Michiyo Haneta	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Ryûji Hayashi	....	film development
Kôichi Nakamura	....	photo printing
Tayû Tajiri	....	stage manager
Masao Yagi	....	stage manager

Production Companies

• Shôchiku Eiga

Distributors

• Shôchiku Eiga (1949) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Shochiku Home Video (2003) (Japan) (DVD)
• Alive (1994) (France) (theatrical)
• trigon-film (2007) (Austria) (theatrical)
• trigon-film (2007) (Germany) (theatrical)
• trigon-film (2007) (Switzerland) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Criterion Collection, The (2006) (2012) (USA) (DVD)
• Lume Filmes (2007) (Brazil) (DVD)
• New Yorker Films (1972) (USA) (subtitled)
• trigon-film (2007) (Switzerland) (DVD) (subtitled)

Also Known As:

"Banshun" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | UK:U | Portugal:M/12 | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Chigasaki, Kanagawa, Japan

Company:

Shôchiku Eiga

Trivia:

It is the first installment of Ozu's so-called "Noriko trilogy". The others are Early Summer (Bakushu, 1951) and Tokyo Story (Tokyo Monogatari, 1953).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: A camera/dolly shadow is visible on the sidewalk as it follows Noriko walking.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Life and Works of Yasujiro Ozu (1983)

Depicts the acceptance of the sadness of life

The concept of mono no aware is said to define the essence of Japanese culture. The phrase means "a sensitivity to things", the ability to experience a direct connection with the world without the necessity of language. Yasujiro Ozu sums up this philosophy in Late Spring, a serene depiction of the acceptance of life's inevitabilities and the sadness that follows it. The film shows the pressure in Japanese families for children to be married as the "natural order" of things, regardless of their wishes. One wonders if Ozu, who never married, is sharing his own family experience with us.

In Late Spring, a widowed Professor, Somiya (Chishu Ryu), must face the inevitability of giving up his daughter, Noriko (Setsuko Hara) to marriage. Noriko, however, wants only to continue to live at home and care for her father and insists that marriage is not for her. Yet the social pressure to marry continues to build, coming not only from her father but also from Somiya's sister Masa (Haruko Sugimura) whom she calls "Auntie", and from a friend, the widower Onodera (Masao Mishima) who has recently remarried. Masa, unrelenting, presents Noriko with a prospect named Satake who reminds her of actor Gary Cooper, but she is still reluctant. To make it easier for Noriko to decide, Somiya tells her that he is planning to remarry and she will no longer need to take care of him. Noriko's agonizes over her decision and her once beaming face increasingly carries hints of resignation. At the end, the old man sits alone peeling a piece of fruit as the ocean waves signal the inexorable flow of timeless things.