Cert U
Yasujiro Ozu’s works deal predominantly with the domestic in post WW2 Japanese society, and are noted for their dignified grace. Late Spring tells of the contented relationship between a widowed professor and his late twenties spinster daughter Noriko. When the professor’s sister Masa intervenes, insisting that Noriko must find a husband to safeguard her future, he knows that in order to win Noriko’s agreement he must plan to remarry. “[Ozu] has been called the poet of family life, capable of taking the seemingly trivial and making great drama of it.” Derek Malcolm, The Guardian.
Alex Jacoby, a leading British expert on Japanese cinema, returns again to ABCD to introduce and discuss this film.
Dir: Yasujiro Ozu 108mins Japan 1949
Comments
- Exquisite film – a great evening
- Beautifully paced and acted
- Very good pre-film introduction by Alex Jacoby
- Terrific commentary and Q&A from Alex – really fascinating. Thanks a lot
- A fascinating study of Japanese family life at a time of transition. Perhaps a bit slow in places
- Very enjoyable and atmospheric, if a trifle slow-moving for my taste. If the test of a truly good film is that it is memorable, then for me this was genuinely very good, as I will remember it for years to come. Is anyone in real life as ‘smiley’ as Noriko?
- Images and sound were quietly beautiful but film a bit slow. So much never got said
- An enjoyable experience that explored post-war Japan in its slice-of-life mise en scene. The characters were likeable and engaging. Jacoby’s introduction provided a plentiful and educated cultural and historical context to the film
- A delicate but sometimes soporific exploration of post-war Japanese society – hesitant in the extreme [?] despite being traditional
- Lovely film but would Jane Austen have approved? Alex as a very good speaker, who obviously knows his stuff!
- Noriko = beautiful + ‘new’. Father = authentic + ‘old’
- Japan’s got talent!
- Let’s hope she lived happily ever after!