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Eclipse Series 3: Late Ozu  
 
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Early Spring (Criterion Collection)

 

  Directed by Yasujiro Ozu

Japan 1956 / Drama / 145 min / Black & White / Monaural / 1.33: 1 / NTSC /  In Japanese with Optional English Subtitles

Haruko Sugimura, Chishu Ryu, Teiji Takahashi , Kumeko Urabe, So Yamamura, Chikage Awashima, Kuniko Miyake .

In his first film after the commercial and critical success of Tokyo Story, Ozu examines life in postwar Japan through the eyes of a young salaryman, dissatisfied with career and marriage, who begins an affair with a flirtatious co-worker.

Like most of director Yasujiro Ozu's work, Early Spring is a deceptively simple family drama: a middle-aged office worker, bored with dreary routines of his job and his marriage, succumbs to a brief fling with the office flirt. His wife inevitably discovers his infidelity, but when he accepts a transfer to the country, she follows him to start their life anew. Ozu's depiction of marital difficulties is hardly depressing. Instead he employs his signature warmth, sensitivity, and humor to create a touching, thoughtful film.