Early Summer
A film by Yasujiro Ozu
Early Summer (Bakush) (1951, 125 min)
Script: Kogo Nada and Yasujiro Ozu
Cast: Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu, Chikage Awashima
When family, friends and colleagues pressure Noriko – played with enigmatic brilliance by Setsuko Hara (Tokyo Story, Late Spring) – to marry, they provoke a surprising decision with wide-reaching consequences. Yasujiro Ozu’s Early Summer is a wonderfully poised ensemble work which presents the intricacies and contradictions of the three generations who have lived through the end of an era and are looking towards the new.
What Did the Lady Forget? (Shukujo Wa Nani O Wasuretaka) (1937, 73 min, DVD only)
Script: Akira Fushimi and ‘James Maki’ (aka Yasujiro Ozu)
Cast: Sumiko Kurishima, Tatsuo Saito, Michiko Kuwano, Shuji Sano
Ozu’s comic pre-war feature, What Did the Lady Forget? plays with the themes of emasculation and feminine assertion. By escaping the strictures of his tyrannical wife, browbeaten Professor Komiya (Tatsuo Saito) falls into the clutches of his audacious niece whose advice, though effective, leaves much to be desired.
Format
Special features
- Fully illustrated booklet with newly commissioned essay by Michael Atkinson, director biography by Tony Rayns, as well as Chishu Ryu on working with Ozu.
- New and improved English subtitles.
Credits
Year
1951
Country
Japan
Product information
Certificate
U
Colour
Black/white
Languages
Japanese
Subtitles
English
Original aspect ratio
1.33:1
DVD region
- 2 Europe (except Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus), Middle East, Egypt, Japan, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Greenland, French Overseas departments and territories
Blu-ray region
- B - Includes most European and Middle-Eastern countries, all of Africa, Australia and New Zealand
Catalogue number
BFIB1069