Classics Tip

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. Available for the first time on Blu-ray, Yasujiro Ozu s Early Summer is wonderfully poised ensemble work which presents the intricacies and contradictions of three generations who have lived through the end of an era and are looking towards the new.

Also contains full length feature What Did the Lady Forget?, Ozu s comic pre-war classic, as an extra.

Extra Features:

• Dual Format Edition: includes both Blu-ray and the DVD versions of the main feature
• Contains full length feature What Did the Lady Forget?, Ozu s comic pre-war classic, as an extra (DVD only)
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Extensive illustrated booklet featuring essays and film notes
• Dolby Digital mono audio (320 kbps)

Writer/director Yasujiro Ozu combines two of his favorite themes--the culture clashes in modern Japan and the emergence of the independent Japanese woman--in EARLY SUMMER (BAKUSHU). Setsuko Hara plays a young woman of the post-war era who is promised in an arranged marriage. But too much has happened in the world and in the girl's own life to allow her to agree to this union without protest. The characters in EARLY SUMMER are neither remote historical personages nor distant foreigners. They are types as easily recognisable in Japan as in any country, and this commonality enhances the universal appeal of this austere film. Yasujiro Ozu collaborated on the script of EARLY SUMMER with Kogo Noda.