Early Spring

Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963) has been on my radar for a while. If not as influential as fellow countryman Akira Kurosawa, he's no less revered as one of the all-time greats of cinema. Thanks to my brother, who gave me Criterion's Late Ozu set for Christmas, I've been able to start studying this master first hand. First up was Early Spring from 1956. Ozu's style could be described as one of classical restraint, well in keeping with his generation. His camera rarely moves and actors are usually shot at eye-level. He was an innovator though and ignored conventions of Western cinema, most notably the 180 degree rule. He was also known for his "pillow shots" -- abstract shots that transition between one scene to the next. These were often shots of modern cityscapes juxtaposed against the sky or other manifestations of nature (transcendence?) that add hints of symbolism to the narrative. You can see some examples below.

What comes through loud and clear in this series of films is the profound spiritual crisis of post-war Japan, a crisis that continues today. Is it a coincidence that there is no exact word for "hope" in the Japanese language?

"What people need in this situation is hope in the Christian sense of the word, but hope is an alien idea here," says the renowned organist Masaaki Suzuki, founder and conductor of the Bach Collegium Japan. He is the driving force behind the "Bach boom" sweeping Japan during its current period of spiritual impoverishment. "Our language does not even have an appropriate word for hope," Suzuki says. "We either use ibo, meaning desire, or nozomi, which describes something unattainable." After every one of the Bach Collegium’s performances Suzuki is crowded on the podium by non-Christian members of the audience who wish to talk to him about topics that are normally taboo in Japanese society-death, for example. "And then they inevitably ask me to explain to them what ‘hope’ means to Christians."
(a quote from J.S. Bach in Japan by Uwe Siemon-Netto)

Even as Japan is miraculously transforming from an imperialistic military power to a peaceful economic juggernaut, young Japanese (like salaryman Shoji in Early Spring) struggle to find meaning in their existence and relationships. Ozu described Early Spring this way.

It had been a while since I dealt with the salaryman, I wanted to have a go at representing their lifestyle. The thrill and aspirations one feels as a fresh graduate entering society gradually wane as the days go by. Even working diligently for 30 years doesn't amount to much. I tried to portray the pathos of the salaryman's life as society undergoes transformation. Screening time was the longest among my postwar films. I tried to avoid anything dramatic, and instead piled up scenes where nothing at all happens, so as to let audience feel the sadness of their existence.

Here are some representative frames from Early Spring taken from Ozu-san.com, one of the nicest filmmaker tribute websites I've ever come across.