Directed by Yasujirô Ozu
Written by Kôgo Noda and Yasujirô Ozu
1956/Japan
Shôchiku Eiga
Repeat viewing/Netflix
“Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then.” ― Katharine Hepburn
Ozu gives us an exquisitely told story of quiet desperation and the breakdown of a marriage.
Masako and Shoji Sugiyama made a love match. They have been married for several years now. They are childless and we learn during the course of the film there was a child who died early in the marriage. They have long since stopped spending much time together. Shoji works as a salary man in a large company and frequently comes home late. He regularly gets together with a bunch of friends who commute on the same train. Masako is fed up and can console herself only with visits to her mother and sometimes with a widowed friend.
“Goldfish”, one of the friends from the train, has no problem with Shoji’s marital status and goes after him. They begin an affair and Shoji starts lying to his wife about where he is spending his evenings. She senses something is wrong immediately but does nothing until the evidence is unmistakable.
This movie is as much about the disappointing existence of a salary man as it is about infidelity. There are many quietly poignant scenes conveying Ozu’s frequent theme of the necessity to accept life for what it is. As usual, it seemed like nothing much was happening until all the threads were resolved and I had tears in my eyes. Recommended.
Clip – opening scene
I love Ozu so much! Nothing happens for two hours, two and a half hours. But you are fascinated.
I saw Equinox Flower and The End of Summer fairly recently and, again, I find Ozu to be amazing. Every time.
In Early Spring, did you notice Daisuke Sato as one of the work buddies? He is almost unrecognizable but you might remember him as Inokichi, the dumb brother with the overbite and the unibrow in Yojimbo.
I didn’t notice Sato but I have noticed that lots of the actors, especially character actors, show up in one Japanese film after another. Of course, that is true for Hollywood as well. Some of these people become like old friends. The selfish daughter from Tokyo Story plays a neighbor in Early Spring. I think she is in about as many Ozu films as Chishu Ryu.