Early Summer / What did the Lady Forget (Region B)

Yasujiro Ozu's poised inter-generational character study

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. Yasujiro Ozu's Early Summer is a wonderfully poised ensemble work which presents the intricacies and contradictions of the three generations who have lived through the end of an era and are looking towards the new.

Also included is Ozu's comic pre-war feature, What Did the Lady Forget? plays with the themes of emasculation and feminine assertion. By escaping the strictures of his overbearing wife, browbeaten Professor Komiya (Tatsuo Saito) falls into the clutches of his audacious niece whose advice, though effective, leaves much to be desired.