Early Summer

Setsuko Hara (Noriko) and Chishu Ryu (Koichi) play characters in a story that centers on an unmarried young woman and her seeming indifference to her own marital status. Her parents and older brother have a match in mind for her, but Noriko seems content to play with her childhood friend, Aya, and poke fun at friends who have taken on the role of traditional wives. The subtlety here is quite an achievement, as vague allusions to a brother lost in the war add dark shading to events as they unfold, while veiled references to sex and culinary double entendres for intercourse add a comedic element that I haven't seen elsewhere in Ozu's movies. Otherwise, the movie has much in common with Tokyo Story and Floating Weeds: trains shunting through a picaresque countryside, laundrey on a line, and the whole thing shot from a point of view six inches above the tatami mat. The new DVD edition features another outstanding commentary track by Donald Richie.