The film revolves around Shukichi (Chishu Ryu), a widowed professor who is cared for by his selfless, unmarried daughter Noriko (Setsuko Hara). They are completely satisfied with their lives until Noriko’s aunt attempts to push her into marriage. Her reasoning is logical enough: Noriko needs someone to take care of her when her father passes away. Shukichi reluctantly agrees with his sister’s reasoning and pushes Noriko, who opposes any idea of marriage, to find a suitor. Of course, she does and the film ends in marriage (which, in typical Ozu fashion, is not depicted on screen) but there is a greater loneliness present, tied as much to coasts of Japan as to the Coca Cola bottles of America, than one would be lead to believe.
As many Ozu scholars have noted, especially Donald Richie in the booklet accompanying the newly released Criterion edition, the power of Ozu’s films come not only from his strikingly spare direction and composition but from the abilities of the actors themselves. Late Spring is no exception. Starring two regular Ozu players, the charmingly beautiful Setsuko Hara (who virtually plays the same part that she would later play in Tokyo Story as a character also named Noriko) and Chishu Ryu, most of the drama in the film comes from the dynamic between the father and daughter. While one would assume that this relationship could be limited to stereotypes that crop up in so many films (Big Fish for example), Hara’s face itself and the dramatic range she is capable of easily frees the film from any typical constraints.
Criterion’s double-disc set features a decent selection of extras, the main two being a lively commentary by Film Society of Lincoln Center head Richard Pena and Wim Wenders’s 1985 Ozu tribute Tokyo-GA. The restoration on the film, while not at the level of other Criterion efforts, is decent. The video has a few scratches and flutters and the audio track is rather inconsistent but, given Criterion’s track record, Late Spring has been given the best possible treatment possible with the film elements supplied.
Grade: A-
