Film Review
On the face of it,
Early Summer
(a.k.a.
Bakushû) would
seem to be one of Yasujirô Ozu's simplest films - another of his
'home dramas' depicting conflict between the generations in a way that
mirrors the wider rift in Japanese society between tradition and
modernity. As with much of Ozu's cinema, first impressions can be
very deceiving, and on closer examination
Early Summer reveals itself to be
one of the director's most complex and profound films, rewarding the
intellect not only with its rich characterisation but also with its
raft of underlying themes, which range from the practical (a woman's
right to choose her own husband) to the deeply metaphysical (the
meaning of life, no less).
To gain a sense of the growing importance of women in Japanese society
across the decades of the 20th century, all you have to do is to watch
Ozu's surviving films right through, in the order in which they were
made. In Ozu's earliest films, women were either hardly visible
or else mere plot cyphers. By the end of Ozu's career, women had
come to dominate his films, and it can be argued that his female
characters are more interesting, more fully developed and more humane
than any of his male protagonists. The most memorable of all
Ozu's female characters is an independently minded young woman named
Noriko who appeared in three of his films -
Late Spring (1949),
Early Summer (1951) and
Tokyo Story (1953) - in each
case played to perfection by Setsuko Hara, a remarkably gifted actress for whom
Ozu had the fondest admiration.
In each of her three films, Noriko is something of a rebel, a modern
woman who dares to go against convention, but always for noble rather
than selfish reasons. In
Late
Spring, she refuses to marry because she cannot bring herself to
abandon her ageing father. In
Early
Summer, she marries out of a sense of duty to the brother who
was killed in the war. In
Tokyo
Story, she is so bound to the memory of her dead husband that
she is unable to remarry, and so must endure the hardship of a single
mother. In each case, Noriko makes a moral decision that runs
counter to either Japanese tradition or modern values. The
outcome is never a happy one, but the important thing is that she has
the freedom to choose her own destiny, rather than have it chosen for
her by her nearest male relatives, as had been the fate for almost all
women in Japan since time immemorial.
Another crucial theme of
Early Summer
is the Buddhist notion of the unimportance of life's transience.
Change is not something that sits easily in Japanese culture.
From the beginning of the Showa era in the mid-1920s, Japan had
undergone a massive social change fuelled by imperialistic ambitions
and relentless industrialisation, but it remained a fundamentally
conservative nation, bound to traditions that stretched back
centuries. In the 1950s, when Ozu was making his finest films,
Japanese society was as hierarchical, rule-bound and class-conscious as
ever, but the relentless onslaught of western values was beginning to
have an impact. "All things must pass away", the last words uttered by
Buddha, encapsulate the essence of Ozu's work. Change is
inevitable so why resist it? All that matters is the present
moment, the 'eternal now' in which we all live. The past and
future are merely an illusion.
To a greater or lesser extent, every character in
Early Summer has an aversion to
change. The older generation, represented by the aged parents and
a comically half-deaf old uncle, are visibly distressed by how much
things have changed in their lifetimes. They can hardly imagine
that things will be better in the future and appear resigned to the
fact that they will not be happier than they are now. The
patriarchal son Koichi Mamiya (played by Ozu regular Chishû
Ryû) is just as conservative and appears alienated from both his
sister, Noriko, who would rather spend her time amassing photographs of
Katharine Hepburn than looking for a husband, and his young sons, who
have already been lost, Faust-like, to the demonic forces of
consumerism.
Noriko is as set in her ways as her brother. She is happy as a
spinster and clearly enjoys the freedom she has, which she flaunts by
going out on the town with her girlfriends and impulse-buying expensive
gateaux she cannot afford. Her little nephews are no
better. Self-centred little brats, they are so absorbed in their
trainset that nothing else matters. When their father brings home
a loaf of bread instead of extra tracks for their already ample
trainset, they throw a wild tantrum and go A.W.O.L. The same
resistance to change is shown by characters outside the family.
Kenkichi Yabe and his mother are so upset by the prospect of having to
move to a grim province 'up north' that they both look as if they are
facing a ritual execution. No one wants anything to change, but
it must come. Life depends upon change, an unending cycle of
birth, death and renewal - a fact that Ozu underscores in the film's
beautifully poetic coda depicting a bridal procession wending its way
through a field of wheat.
© James Travers 2013
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Yasujirô Ozu film:
Tokyo Story (1953)
Film Synopsis
The Mamiyas are an extended family living under one roof in
Kamakura. An old couple, Shukichi and Shige, share their house
with their son Koichi, a surgeon who is married and has two young sons,
and daughter Noriko, who works as a secretary in Tokyo. When an
elderly uncle comes to visit, Noriko comes under pressure from her
entire family to find a husband and start a family of her own.
Her employer, Satake, suggests that Mr Manabe, a 40-year-old friend of
his, might be a suitable match. Even though she is nearly 30,
Noriko is no hurry to marry but she agrees to consider Manabe as a
possible husband. Her family are naturally encouraged by this
development. But then Noriko learns that her dead brother's
childhood friend Kenkichi Yabe, a colleague of Koichi, is to be posted
to Akita, in a northern province far from his present home.
Yabe's mother is so distraught by the prospect of this move that Noriko
makes up her mind in an instant to marry Yabe to make it more bearable
for her. When her family learn of her decision they react as if
Noriko has taken leave of her senses. For her to marry a poor
widower with a son is surely a disgrace...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.