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Title: Early Spring (aka Soshun)
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Year: 1956
Genre: Drama
Format Reviewed: Criterion Eclipse DVD

Title: Tokyo Twilight (aka Tokyo Boshoku)
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Year: 1957
Genre: Drama
Format Reviewed: Criterion Eclipse DVD

I recently bought the Eclipse Series 3 box set, and have gotten through the first two movies.  Early Spring and Tokyo Twilight are the two B&W films of the set and are quite a bit different in plot.  Early Spring follows a salaryman who becomes involved with a co-worker, while his marriage is on the rocks for reasons related and unrelated.  It is a study of interaction between people who have known each other for a long time.  Tokyo Twilight’s main plot revolves around a much younger protagonist, who unknowingly meets her mother, who ran away with another man after giving birth, leaving the girl to be raised by a single father.  Tokyo Twilight actually feels much slower paced and has a good amount of angst.  I suppose some things in youth are universal.

Early Spring is the better feeling film, though enjoyment from an Ozu film has more to do with whether you can grow into the characters.  There is a bittersweet ending and it can be touching, as the characters are quite likable.  In contrast, Tokyo Twilight seems more distant and unrelatable, although purposefully.  It’s an interesting comparison to look into.  For Early Spring, one can understand that the love between a couple can go through hard times and yet still feel close.  As for the relation between the daughter in Tokyo Twilight and her mother, they have never met before, and although they share a mother-daughter bond, it seems that fate will always keep them separated because their love was never given time to mature.  Though there is also a meditation on the limits to what the bond the single father can have with his daughter.
Of course, if you’ve seen an Ozu film before, you know the style of film and deliberately paced family drama that you are getting into.  There are few times where you laugh, cry, get depressed, etc.  It’s the test given to a good drama.   Ozu is obviously a master of this genre, and neither of these two film disappoint fans of his.  Early Spring is interesting enough to be accessible to a newcomer to older Japanese cinema, and I would chose it over Tokyo Twilight.  It may even be a better choice to start here with Ozu rather than Tokyo Story, because it is a little less depressing and more relatable, though certainly not as moving.

The Eclipse transfer is pretty good, though I can’t compare to a film copy.  I didn’t notice any significant lack of details in dark spots.  Running through the mono-theater simulation on my receiver, they both sounded very good.

Ratings:
Early Spring – 5 /5
Tokyo Twilight – 4 /5

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