Early Summer

Early Summer (麦秋, 1951) — watch online Yasujiro Ozu's Japanese drama on iFILM. Noriko is 28, works at a doctor's office in postwar Tokyo, lives with her parents and her brother's family, and is considered by everyone around her to be dangerously overdue for a husband.

The family settles on a 40-year-old business acquaintance. Sensible match, good prospects. Noriko goes along, then quietly does the opposite. Setsuko Hara plays her with the particular gift she had for Ozu — warm, composed, and almost impossible to read until the moment she's already decided. This is the second film in the informal trilogy Ozu built around the character of Noriko, following Late Spring (1949) and preceding Tokyo Story (1953), with Hara in the role each time.

Ozu shot from low angles with almost no camera movement, each frame composed with the stillness of a woodblock print. The story is simple: a family that looks stable is about to shift, and everyone knows it and says nothing. That silence is what the film is really about. Stream Early Summer (1951) online on iFILM.