Early Summer

Early Summer (Bakush) (1951, 125 min)

Script: Kogo Nada and Yasujiro Ozu

Cast: Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu, Chikage Awashima

When family, friends and colleagues pressure Noriko – played with enigmatic brilliance by Setsuko Hara (Tokyo Story, Late Spring) – to marry, they provoke a surprising decision with wide-reaching consequences. Yasujiro Ozu’s Early Summer is a wonderfully poised ensemble work which presents the intricacies and contradictions of the three generations who have lived through the end of an era and are looking towards the new.

What Did the Lady Forget? (Shukujo Wa Nani O Wasuretaka) (1937, 73 min, DVD only)

Script: Akira Fushimi and ‘James Maki’ (aka Yasujiro Ozu)

Cast: Sumiko Kurishima, Tatsuo Saito, Michiko Kuwano, Shuji Sano

Ozu’s comic pre-war feature, What Did the Lady Forget? plays with the themes of emasculation and feminine assertion. By escaping the strictures of his tyrannical wife, browbeaten Professor Komiya (Tatsuo Saito) falls into the clutches of his audacious niece whose advice, though effective, leaves much to be desired.

• Fully illustrated booklet with newly commissioned essay by Michael Atkinson, director biography by Tony Rayns, as well as Chishu Ryu on working with Ozu.
• New and improved English subtitles.