Japanese Modernism Across Media
The Unmarried Woman and the Widow
Noriko might be the most predominant heroine in Ozu’s post-war films. He used the name Noriko in several films and pictured a life story of this character and her relationship with her family. In Late Spring, Noriko is the unmarried daughter of the widowed professor who wants to live with her father instead of getting married. In Tokyo Story, Noriko is the widow of the second son in the family. She does not have any relationship with the family by blood, but she still holds respect to her husband's parents while other relatives avoiding their responsibilities of taking care of their parents. The character Noriko lies in the dichotomy between an independent modern woman and a traditional Japanese woman following the social expectation of a “good wife, wise mother” of the family.[1]
In these proclaimed films, Ozu playfully put his characters as victims of his pillow shots and low angle shots. These shots offer profound meanings not only to the visual aesthetics but also to the characters.
[1] Dina Lowy, The Japanese "new Woman": Images of Gender and Modernity (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2007), 2.
Late Spring Storyline
Noriko (Setsuko Hara) is the only child of professor Shukichi Somiya (Chishu Ryu). Noriko’s mother passed away and she takes full charge of caring her father. On a shopping trip to Tokyo, Noriko encounters one of her father's friends, the widowed professor Jo Onodera (Masao Mishima) who remarried recently. Noriko thinks Onodera’s remarriage is distasteful, even “filthy”.
Shukichi's sister, Aunt Masa (Haruko Sugimura) and Noriko’s divorced friend Aya (Yumeji Tsukioka) convinces Noriko to get married, but Noriko seems satisfied about her life. She expresses her willing of living with her father and taking care of him.
Undaunted, Masa pressures Noriko to meet with a young man named Satake. Noriko declines, explaining that she doesn't wish to marry anyone. Masa pushes Noriko saying that she is trying to arrange a match between Shukichi and Mrs. Miwa (Kuniko Miyake), an attractive young widow known to Noriko. If Masa succeeds, Noriko would have no excuse.
At a Noh performance, Mrs. Miwa meets Noriko’s father. When her father later tries to talk her into going to meet Satake, he tells her that he intends to marry Mrs. Miwa. At last, Noriko consents to the arranged marriage.
Source：http://www.a2pcinema.com/ozu-san/films/latespring.htm
Omissions between Shots
When people resumed their ordinary life after the war, Ozu continued to make films in his own style.[1] Yoshida Kiju gives us an example of Ozu’s playful editing. This is the scene in which Noriko meets professor Onodera and professor Onodera invites her to an art exhibition.
Prof. Onodera: Where are you headed?
Noriko: Shopping.
Prof. Onodera: May I join you?
Noriko: You’re not busy?
Prof. Onodera: No, my work’s done. There is an art exhibit. Shall we have a look?
Noriko: But I need sewing needles.
Prof. Onodera: Okay, let’s go.
“The subsequent scene abruptly shows a poster of the exhibition and the building in which the museum is housed. Thus, the scene in which the two buy needles is omitted.”[2] Ozu tricks his audience by showing this mismatch of image and dialogue. This lack of continuity hints the underlying relationship of Noriko’s family. The seemingly connected on the surface, but a deep misunderstanding underneath.
Like this abnormal editing, the conversation between Noriko and Prof. Onodera seems to be too specific and odd:
Noriko: I'd find it distasteful.
Prof. Onodera: Distasteful? My new wife?
Noriko: No, you, uncle.
Prof. Onodera: Why?
Noriko: It seems filthy.
Prof. Onodera: Filthy?
Noriko: It's foul.
[1] Yoshishige Yoshida, Ozu's Anti-cinema (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2003), 61.
[2] Ibid., 63.
[3] Adam Mars-Jones, Noriko Smiling (London: Notting Hill Editions, 2011), 36.
The Coca-cola Sign in Late Spring. A symbol of encroaching Americanism?
“In the thirties, society was changing and westernizing at a familiar pace, but in the postwar world, as Ozu suggests in his inimitably respectful way, the old-fashioned lifestyle was under siege by commercialism, permissiveness, anti-masculinism, and independent wives and daughters.”[1]
“The acquiescent, ever-smiling heroine’s desires are never considered; she explicitly asks why her contented life cannot just go on as it has been.”[2]
[1] Michael Atkinson, "Late Spring: Home with Ozu," The Criterion Collection, April 17, 2012, accessed December 05, 2016, https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/421-late-spring-home-with-ozu.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Wen Jiang, "Mu - “Wa” Culture in Yasujiro Ozu's Films," Journal of Beijing Film Academy, June 2003, 71, CNKI.
At the Noh performance, Noriko sees her father's potential partner. Jiang points out that because of the low-angle camera, the spectators see Noriko‘s eyes looking abnormally upwards.[3] This ambiguous look of Noriko gives the spectators a sense of unease. They cannot help to jump out of the identification of Noriko and to focus on the facial expression of the actor. The father and daughter relationship here is more identify with a relationship between a couple. This uncertainty of Noriko's performance reinforces the uncertainty of this character.
[3] Wen Jiang, "Mu - “Wa” Culture in Yasujiro Ozu's Films," Journal of Beijing Film Academy, June 2003, 71, CNKI.
In Tokyo Story, Noriko is the widowed daughter-in-law of the old couple. Although she has no blood relationship with them, her kindness and caring for the old couple are in contrast to the apathy of the couple’s children. Tokyo Story presents Noriko as a thoughtful and tough woman. Comparing to Noriko’s concerns of father and daughter relationship in Late Spring, Noriko, as nearly a stranger to the family, unveiled the damage of family bound caused by the fast-paced lifestyle of Japanese people. Is this a critique to the other members of the family? Bordwell argues that “The warmhearted Noriko confesses to forgetting occasionally about her dead husband, measuring herself against a cruelly high standard. Likewise, most of the siblings aren’t deeply selfish, just preoccupied and caught up in the lives they have made for themselves. Even Shige, whom Western viewers are inclined to censure, surprises us with her sudden, copious, utterly sincere burst of tears at her mother’s death.”[1] Ozu never painted one side of an object, these nuances not only enrich the character of Noriko, but also discuss the point of view of Shige.
[1] Yoshishige Yoshida, Ozu's Anti-cinema (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2003), 93.
Tokyo Story Storyline
“A retired couple, Shūkichi (Chishū Ryū) and Tomi Hirayama (Chieko Higashiyama) live in the town of Onomichi with their daughter Kyōko (played by Kyōko Kagawa). The couple traveled to Tokyo to visit their son, daughter, and widowed daughter-in-law.
Their eldest son, Kōichi (So Yamamura and their eldest daughter, Shige (Haruko Sugimura) do not have much time for their parents. Only their widowed daughter-in-law, Noriko (Setsuko Hara), takes Shūkichi and Tomi on a sightseeing tour of metropolitan Tokyo.
The couple remark on how their children have changed, and they leave for home, planning to see their younger son Keizō when the train passes through Osaka. However, when they later reach back to Onomichi, Tomi becomes critically ill. Kōichi, Shige and Noriko rush to Onomichi to see Tomi, who dies shortly afterward. Keizō arrives late as he is out-stationed.
After the funeral, Kōichi, Shige and Keizō leave immediately, with only Noriko not returning. After they leave, Kyōko is angry with them and complains to Noriko that they are selfish to their family. Noriko responds that while she understands Kyoko's disappointment with her siblings, she also explains that everyone has their own life to lead and that the drift between parents and children is inevitable.
After Kyōko leaves for school, Noriko informs her father-in-law that she must return to Tokyo that afternoon. Shūkichi tells her that she has treated them best despite not being related by blood. He encourages her to remarry again as soon as possible. At the end, the train with Noriko speeds from Onomichi back to Tokyo, leaving behind Kyōko and Shūkichi.”
Source：https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Story
http://www.a2pcinema.com/ozu-san/films/tokyostory.htm
