Early Summer
(Bakushu)

Screening on Film

Directed by Yasujiro Ozu.
With Chikage Auajima, Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu.
Japan, 1951, 35mm, black & white, 135 min.
Japanese with English subtitles.

This extraordinary film about the lives of ordinary people focuses on a young woman who rebels against the wishes of her family by choosing her husband herself. Through small stories and smaller moments Ozu meticulously observes the lives of some nineteen characters, transcending the boundaries of the film’s simple plot, creating an elliptical narrative. This is a film driven forward not by its plot but rather by the director’s unique use of space and time and by the constantly changing rhythm of the action.