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Late Spring (1949)

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Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 0

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Average Rating: 4.3/5
User Ratings: 4,202

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Movie Info

Veteran Japanese writer/director Yasujiro Ozu's second postwar production was 1949's Late Spring or Banshun. Chisu Ryu plays another of Ozu's realistic middle-class types, this time a widower with a marriageable daughter. Not wishing to see the girl resign herself to spinsterhood, Ryu pretends that he himself is about to be married. The game plan is to convince the daughter that they'll be no room for her at home, thus forcing her to seek comfort and joy elsewhere. What makes this homey little

G, 1 hr. 47 min.

Art House & International, Drama

Kazuo Hirotsu, Kôgo Noda

Nov 30, 1994

Cast

All Critics (20) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (20) | Rotten (0) | DVD (7)

One of the best two or three films Ozu ever made.

January 20, 2006 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Ozu's characters don't seek ecstasy, not because they are afraid of it but because they are brave enough to accept compromise.

May 9, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Yasujiro Ozu's 1949 film inaugurated his majestic late period: it's here that he decisively renounces melodrama (and, indeed, most surface action of any kind) and lets his camera settle into the still, long-take contemplation.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

impermanence... forms the film's true subject - and it is Ozu's ambivalence towards it, as though he wants both to board the train, and to stay on the platform, that ultimately gives Late Spring its bittersweet resonance.

August 23, 2010 Full Review Source: Little White Lies | Comment
Little White Lies

Haiku-like in its title, its interest in the undramatic silences between scenes, and its enfolding of human behaviour within nature, Late Spring offers tenderness in the place of melodrama and patient truth in the place of sudden revelation.

December 2, 2009 Full Review Source: Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada) | Comment
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

An early indicator of Ozu's late-career greatness, his remarkably subtle family drama Late Spring finds him at his expressive peak.

August 4, 2009 Full Review Source: MovieMartyr.com | Comment
MovieMartyr.com

Few 21st-century Americans have felt the kind of conflict that the daughter in Late Spring feels, which makes the film all the more remarkable for bridging this cultural gap and grabbing hold of us anyway.

June 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Paste Magazine | Comment
Paste Magazine

Late Spring is, along with Tokyo Story, Ozu's greatest work.

July 8, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment
Combustible Celluloid

One of the director's favorites.

June 25, 2006 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Ozu's camera is observational, rather than intrusive; even when we get something akin to a close-up, it never feels like it's invading the character's space.

June 3, 2006 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | Comment
Q Network Film Desk

the work of a master

June 2, 2006 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Filmcritic.com

Exquisite ... What little plot there is in Late Spring is adorned by Ozu's Zen-like meditation on objects, surroundings and the Japanese concept of mono no aware -- the ineffable resignation to the reality of life as things are.

June 2, 2006 Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | Comment

welcome respite from mindless, dispassionate cinema

June 1, 2006 Full Review Source: Old School Reviews | Comment

Late Spring exemplifies Ozu's rich, mature style, an apparent stylelessness of patient, lifelike rhythms, unobtrusive camerawork, and credibly subtle performances. [DVD]

May 18, 2006 Comment

With no one looking but the camera, Hara's face registers anger, jealousy and humiliation, all in the space of a few seconds.

April 9, 2004 Full Review Source: eye WEEKLY | Comment
eye WEEKLY
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Late Spring

Another fantastic example of Ozu's work. As usual, very restrianed and very simple. Ozu examines family relationships and the social beliefs of Japan at the time. The struggles of women and the worries of fathers are all played out. Late Spring focuses on Ryu once again playing a single father, and his daughter Noriko.

December 21, 2006
kiriyamakazou

Super Reviewer

although ozu typically starts slow, this film begins slower than most of his. however, by the time it picks up, it becomes one of ozu's most emotionally powerful films. in particular japanese fashion noriko's father doesnt display any emotion until completely alone, and then it hits hard, but hara gave a phenomenal

January 26, 2007
sanjurosamurai
danny d

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Late Spring (Banshun) (DE)
  • Late Spring (Banshun) (UK)
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