Late Spring is the usual Ozu family drama with his usual actors. I thought it started off too slowly and too quaint (even the music is terribly, gratingly quaint), but the story eventually captured my interest. The "drama" involved surrounds a woman, Noriko, who doesn't want to get married and the pressures the people around her are putting on her. This is something many young women (myself included) should be able to relate to, but the Noriko's motivations are never really made clear, making her a borderline unlikeable character. The story also centers around her relationship with her father, played by Chishu Ryu, who is a delightful actor with a happy face. There are many subtly filmed moments of the father's story that were done extremely well. There are also some "Japanese slice of life" scenes that are of interest (eg a noh performance, tea ceremony). All in all a must for fans of Japanese postwar stories. I enjoyed this more than Tokyo Story.
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