Bakushu (aka Early Summer) (1951)

An extended family is concerned that the 28 year old daughter (Setsuko Hara) is still unmarried. When an opportunity comes for an arranged marriage, she hesitates preferring instead to make her own plans. Directed by Yasujiro Ozu, this quiet and subtle film looks at the changing landscape of Japanese culture as the traditional ways of family values gives way to more modern ideas especially as it pertains to women. As with Ozu's post war films that deal with family, there's a beautifully crafted narrative that gives us insight into Japanese tradition and how western influences are changing its values. Example: the two adolescent boys (Zen Murase, Isao Shirosawa) whose disrespectful insolence toward grown ups would never have been tolerated before the war. Its leisurely pace (it's over two hours long) allows Ozu to examine the film's subsidiary characters and flesh them out. A lovely film with a strong central performance by Hara. My only quibble is with the mundane underscore by Senji Ito but then again, I don't think I've seen an Ozu film with a decent score. The splendid cast includes Chishu Ryu, Kuniko Miyake, Haruku Sugimura and Chikage Awashima.