Definitely would have cried if I hadn’t gotten my eyes lasered a few days ago—beats having to see movies through a piece of perpetually smudgy glass, though.
Early Summer might be the oft-ignored middle child of the “Noriko trilogy,” but I think it absolutely holds its own alongside Late Spring and Tokyo Story. Yes, I do need to revisit Tokyo Story (it’s been probably eight years), especially since I just saw and loved Make Way for Tomorrow which inspired it, so I can’t say anything definitive. But at least at the moment I’m thinking this is Ozu’s most visually complex (out of the ones I’ve seen). Granted, I did watch the film more analytically than usual since my tear ducts are nonfunctioning.
Once again, I highly recommend the Japanese release direct from Shochiku. If you’ve got the extra expendable income and/or the torrenting acumen, definitely seek out the 2016 4K restoration from them rather than the UK BFI release (and the film has not come out in HD in the US yet).
Very odd seeing Chishū Ryū play Setsuko Hara’s brother until you realize he’s only 16 years older and they just aged him up in every other movie.
I love how the design on the cups matches the wallpaper.