EARLY SUMMER
A film by Yasujirô Ozu
1951/Japan/124 mins
25th Nov 2012; 5.45 pm
Perks Mini Theater
As far as
cinema is concerned, Ozu was ahead of his time, and Early Summer is a great example of the way
his films show us the inertia of change in the lives of extended families
slowly disintegrating in the wake of modernization. In this installment, a
mother and father are trying to find a proper husband for their aging daughter
so that they can retire to a rural town.
Matchmaking conversations and strategies at
work and home strain the already creaking structure of this extended family,
and through the cracks we begin to see the startling differences between each
of the three generations involved.
Ozu is
fascinated with all the things that we lose as time progresses through
generations, war, and the disorienting march of modernization. In Early Summer, these
reflections take the form of balloons slipping away, caged birds, or a broken
loaf of bread. His slow pacing gives us time to explore this curio shop of
gestures, images, and unspoken reflections on the quiet bonds of family.
Several
times, Early Summer
also slips out of Ozu’s typical low angle, and wide shots of the sea or fields
of barley punctuate the film with the grace of simple geometry. This list would
be incomplete without Ozu’s formative reflections on what happened in the
middle of the 20th century, the fallout of which has settled across the way we
see ourselves as part of families, societies, and the patronizing pace of
progress.
Yasujiro
Ozu
12th
Dec 1903 - 12th Dec 1963
"I have formulated my own directing style in my
head, proceeding without any unnecessary imitation of others." – Ozu
Ozu was born on December 12, 1903 in Tokyo. He and his
two brothers were educated in the countryside, in Matsuzaka, whilst his father
sold fertilizer in Tokyo. Ozu developed a love of film during his early days of
school truancy, but his fascination began when he first saw a Matsunosuke
historical spectacular at the Atagoza cinema in Matsuzaka. Ozu's uncle, aware
of his nephew's love of film, introduced him to Teihiro Tsutsumi, then manager
of Shochiku. Not long after, Ozu began working for the great studio—against his
father's wishes—as an assistant cameraman.
Ozu's work as assistant
cameraman involved pure physical labour, lifting and moving equipment at
Shochiku's TokyoThe Sword Of Penitence that became his first film as director
(and only period piece) in 1927. Ozu was called up into the army reserves
before shooting was completed. No negative, prints or script exist of The Sword
Of Penitence—and, sadly, only 36 out of 54 Ozu films still exist. studios in
Kamata. After becoming assistant director to Tadamoto Okubo, it took less than
a year for Ozu to put his first script forward for filming. It was in fact his
second script.
Days Of Youth (Wakaki Hi,
1929) is Ozu's earliest extant picture, though not especially typical (and
preceded by seven others, now lost) as it is set on ski slopes. Stylistically
it is rife with close-ups, fade-outs and tracking shots, all of which Ozu was
later to leave behind. Three years later came what is generally recognized as
Ozu's first major film, I Was Born, But... (Umarete wa Mita Keredo..., 1932). This
moving comedy/drama was a great success in Japan both critically and
financially. It was one of cinema's finest works about children.
Thirty years into his
filmmaking career Ozu was making films which, like Kurosawa's Ikiru (1952),
questioned the sense of spending your whole working life behind a
desk—something that many of his audience must have been doing.
Ozu's films represent a
lifelong study of the Japanese family and the changes that a family unit
experiences. He ennobles the humdrum world of the middle-class family and has
been regarded as “the most Japanese of all filmmakers”, not just by Western
critics, but also by his countrymen
