Yasujiro Ozu’s Late Spring is another in his series of domestic dramas, this time detailing in his signature delicate and intricate manner a middle class family in postwar Japan. Its bittersweet quality and lightness of touch are among its most attractive components, and its haunting ending remains memorable more than half a century after its initial release.
Late Spring (Blu-ray)
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu
Studio: Criterion
Year: 1949
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 108 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: PCM 1.0 Japanese
Subtitles: English
Region: A
MSRP: $ 39.95
Release Date: April 17, 2012
Review Date: April 15, 2012
The Film
4.5/5
Noriko Somiya (Setsuko Hara) is twenty-seven years old and yet unmarried but is in no rush to find a husband, content to spend her days tending to the needs of her widowed professor father (Chishu Ryu). Their relationship is loving and uncomplicated, but that doesn’t stop other relatives and friends from nagging her about finding a husband and moving out of her father’s house. When her best friend, the divorcee Aya (Yumeji Tsukikora), suggests that her father himself might be interested in remarrying, Nori is devastated with the thoughts of another woman taking over the duties of a loving companion that she's shouldered all these years. It’s up to her father to assure her that now is the time for finding her own happiness that is not dependent on him, and with Nori’s aunt (Haruko Sugimura) having a pleasing young man in mind for Nori, it appears that her future is all being planned out for her.
The script by longtime Ozu collaborator Kogo Noda and Ozu himself was based on a novel titled Father and Daughter, perhaps a more apt description of the core relationship in the film and one that must be altered gently but significantly if the film is to have any traction. The writing duo does it with a series of scenes in which the father and his child interact with one another, often wordlessly, as we see their dynamic beginning to change. Shukichi’s climactic advice to his daughter about the sense of marrying and starting her own home and family is beautifully and lovingly written and performed, and Ozu films his two protagonists tenderly without bombast of any kind. There’s a lengthy stretch at a Noh theater that goes on too long but that’s balanced by a rapturous sequence as father and daughter take their last trip together to Kyoto and revel in each moment and in each other. We never meet Nori’s husband-to-be (he’s only described as looking like Gary Cooper), and we don’t witness the actual wedding ceremony either (things we would expect in conventional films), but we see everything we need to see expressed so luminously by the film’s two leading actors.
You’ll rarely find an actress who lights up the screen as much as Setsuko Hara does when she smiles, and you’ll crumble inside along with her when she hears of her father’s possible second union with an attractive widow. The misery and desolation on her face tells tales no words could ever surpass. For his part, Chishu Ryu is equally effective as the gentle but firm-minded father. His final shots are likewise telling of his true sense of loss and anguish pointing up his surprise reveal at the end with appropriate body language. Haruko Sugimura makes for a stern and no-nonsense auntie while Yumeji Tsukikora has spunk aplenty as Nori’s friend whose own lousy marriage doesn’t give Nori hope that hers will be any better. Jun Usami plays the professor’s assistant who we’re convinced is going to run away with Nori due to their obvious chemistry together, a most effective and somewhat deceptive performance.
Video Quality
3.5/5
The film’s original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1 is replicated in this transfer’s 1080p image using the AVC codec. Sharpness is never a problem with crisp, clear images and a grayscale that’s nicely contrasted and appealing despite less than optimum black levels. But the image is plagued with a series of white horizontal scratches throughout, and there is some problematic line twitter occasionally along with some fluctuating brightness and one scene in the second half that has a fair amount of damage. The white subtitles are always easy to read. The film has been divided into 24 chapters.
Audio Quality
3/5
The PCM (1.1 Mbps) 1.0 audio track has hiss of varying volume levels throughout (never overpowering, however) and occasionally evinces flutter, especially in the second half of the film. Voices speaking the dialogue are clear, but the sound, especially the music by Senji Ito, haunting as its main theme is, sounds quite tinny with no low end to speak of. It’s a very typical audio track of its day, but despite Criterion’s engineers having done the best they can, they have performed no miracles with this audio transfer.
Special Features
3/5
The audio commentary is provided by Ozu expert Richard Peña, and it’s a lively analysis of the film with its clear indication of the postwar American occupation and of the director’s signature style.
Tokyo-ga is the 1985 documentary directed by Wim Wenders paying homage to the late, legendary director Yasujiro Ozu as he describes his 1983 trip to Tokyo (complete with views on the Japanese obsessions with pachinko, golf, baseball, and American music) and meets up with two instrumental people in the director’s life: star Chishu Ryu and cinematographer Yuharu Atsuta . Almost as long as the film Late Spring itself, this 1080i feature runs 91 ¾ minutes.
The enclosed 20-page booklet contains cast and crew lists, a series of stills from the movie, an essay on the director and his film by movie historian Michael Atkinson, and a discussion of the director and his muse Setsuko Hara by Japanese film expert Donald Richie.
The Criterion Blu-rays include a maneuvering tool called “Timeline” which can be pulled up from the menu or by pushing the red button on the remote. It shows you your progress on the disc, the title of the chapter you’re now in, and index markers for the commentary that goes along with the film, all of which can be switched on the fly. Additionally, two other buttons on the remote can place or remove bookmarks if you decide to stop viewing before reaching the end of the film or want to mark specific places for later reference.
In Conclusion
4/5 (not an average)
A timeless story of father and daughter, Late Spring is one of Yasujiro Ozu’s most sensitively understated domestic dramas. Fans of the director will appreciate the bonus material contained in the package, and while the video and audio aren’t reference quality by any means, they are likely as good as the film is ever going to look and sound. Recommended!
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
