Late Spring (1949)

Noriko is twenty-seven years old and still living with her widowed father. Everybody tries to talk her into marrying, but Noriko wants to stay at home caring for her father.

Director:

Yasujirô Ozu

Writers:

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

Stars:

Chishû Ryû, Setsuko Hara, Yumeji Tsukioka

5 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chishû Ryû	...	Shukichi Somiya
Setsuko Hara	...	Noriko Somiya
Yumeji Tsukioka	...	Aya Kitagawa
Haruko Sugimura	...	Masa Taguchi
Hôhi 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

Storyline

Noriko is 27 years old and is still living with her father Somiya, a widower. Noriko just recovered from an illness she developed in the war, and now the important question pops up: when will Noriko start thinking about marriage? Everybody who is important in her life tries to talk her into it: her father, her aunt, a girlfriend. But Noriko doesn't want to get married, she seems extremely happy with her life. She wants to stay with her father to take care of him. After all, she knows best of his manners and peculiarities. But Noriko's aunt doesn't want to give up. She arranges a partner for her and thinks of a plan that will convince Noriko her father can be left alone.

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Plot Keywords:

train | train tracks | tea ceremony | tokyo japan | kamakura japan | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

21 July 1972 (USA)

Also Known As:

Late Spring

Filming Locations:

Kitakamakura Station, Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shôchiku Eiga

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #331.

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Goofs

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

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Quotes

Shukichi Somiya: Marriage may not mean happiness from the start. To expect such immediate happiness is a mistake. Happiness isn't something you wait around for. It's something you create yourself. Getting married isn't happiness. Happiness lies in the forging of a new life shared together. It may take a year or two, maybe even five or ten. Happiness comes only through effort. Only then can you claim to be man and wife.

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Connections

Featured in Hao nan hao nu (1995)

User Reviews

A Master of understated elegance

"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.