Early Spring - The Portrait of a Couple and a Generation
By Doron B. Cohen (Kyoto, Japan)

Out of Ozu's fifteen post-war films, eight or nine focus on the relations of parents and their grown-up children (of which six or seven concern, mainly or partially, the marrying off of a daughter), giving the impression that this was his "only" subject, as some critics have written. However, even disregarding his pre-war films, which had several other concerns, his post-war films also show his interest in a variety of human relations and social conditions. Two almost consecutive films focus on the relationship of childless couples, of markedly different backgrounds: The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice and Early Spring.

Unlike the very affluent couple in The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, the couple in Early Spring belongs to the lower middle class, which was an emerging class in Japan of that period. However, in both films the couple, after experiencing what seems to be total estrangement, is eventually reconciled. This happens mainly because the wife takes the necessary extra step. In The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, which is more comical in tone, the wife admits she was wrong, and is willing to adapt to her husband's more simple tastes. He hasn't changed, but she has; he was always the wiser grown-up, while she is growing up out of her childishness in front of our eyes. In Early Spring, which is much more somber in tone (the difficulties between the husband and wife involve infidelity, and the memory of a dead child), it is the other way around: the wife, Masako, is the grown-up, while the husband, Shōji, is the childish spouse. Only when Shōji gives up his lover and accepts a more challenging job in a remote place, away from his familiar social circle, is Masako willing to forgive him and give their marriage another chance. This comparison between the two films is one example for the great variety in human nuances to be found in Ozu's films, in spite of all the similarities which often stand out.

This film is Ozu's longest, with the greatest number of characters, large and small. Ozu's aim was not only to portray a couple, but to relate to the concerns of a generation, of those who came of age during or soon after the War, experiencing their "Early Spring". Some of them served in the army, and still maintain their attachment to their comrades. All are working hard for the rebuilding of a devastated nation (this is not something that Ozu actually tells us, but we know it to be part of their reality), but they simultaneously have very private concerns, and are all searching for love, friendship and entertainment, as well as for purpose and meaning. Ozu portrays their lives in great detail, giving, as always, the impression that he really cares about them, and that he wishes us to sympathies with them as well. All this Ozu does in his usual tightly controlled style, with a very few melodramatic moments. Even the potentially most melodramatic ones, when Shōji is confronted by his neglected lover Chiyo or by his offended wife Masako, are cut down to the bare minimum.

The actors all do a fine job, in particular the leading couple. Dashing Ikebe Ryō, who was a great star of the Japanese cinema of the 1950's and 60's, and who makes here his only appearance in an Ozu film, gives a solid portrayal of the somewhat disgruntled war veteran, who is not sure how he can improve his life (born 1918 and still active in 2008, Ikebe himself had a long military experience in the Pacific War). Awajima Chikage, who gave sparkling comical performances in two earlier Ozu films (Early Summer and The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice), here plays the deep, greatly controlled role of the dejected wife who is willing to forgive. Attractive Kishi Keiko also gives an emotional but controlled performance - her only one in Ozu's films, regrettably - as the lover, Chiyo. Several Ozu regulars, and many new faces, give a variety of solid performances.

This complex film is a portrayal of both a marriage and a generation. Beyond the distance in time and place, we can still identify with those basic human feelings and hopes that never change.

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