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Late Spring - Criterion Collection Streaming. Movie Title: Late Spring - Criterion Collection Average customer review: Late Spring - Criterion Collection is available for streaming or downloading. Click Here to Stream or Download Late Spring - Criterion Collection

This is one of a handful of films I consider one of the most moving ever made. Director Yasujiro Ozu has created a symphony of the emotions regarding the relationship between a father (played by Chishu Ryu) and his daughter (the great Setsuko Hara).

There is a Zen-like quality to this and Ozu’s other great films — including TOKYO STORY (1953). At salient points in the action, the camera leaves the characters and focuses upon the middle distance, with sad orchestral music welling up. I am told that this technique is an example of “mono no aware,” or sympathetic sadness. Ozu does not hammer at the viewer: He knows when to pull back and let the feelings take root and start to spiral up your spine. It is an instinctive talent that few filmmakers have.

Ozu almost NEVER moves his camera, which he sets up on a short tripod about 3 feet high — just about the height of your head if you were sitting on a tatami mat and interacting with the characters.

I saw a recent documentary about Ozu in which almost everyone who ever worked with this quiet genius broke into tears. The last shot was simply of his funeral monument, with the same sad music welling up.

Ozu was one of a kind. We shall not look upon his like again.

In my review of ‘I Was Born But…’ I brought attention to one of Ozu’s subject matter motifs - estranged relationships between children and parents. Usually when the children are not kids - as in ‘Late Spring’ then Ozu develops this motif with the topic of marriage. In this case, the widowed father in realising his selfishness to ‘keep’ his daughter urges her to marry before its too late. This sudden parental wish is not without resistance from his daughter.

The fact that this film is ‘post-war Ozu’ provides an important contextual backdrop - that is, Japan’s fascination for things American. Moreover, it is the idea of marrying for love than for traditional duty. With much parallel action at work, the narrative is consumed with trying to match Noriko with suitors. At the same time, marriage becomes conceptually compared with other characters in terms of divorce and tradition.

Again, spatial violation and mimimalistic camera shots are prevalent. Furthermore, Ozu’s sense of graphic composition is superb here as each shot - be it an object or room - looks strikingly articulated. I don’t want to spoil the final scene - however I will say that it is one of the finest moments in the history of cinema.

See this film and you will love the father, as you will the daughter, and even the interfering Aunt. Its not just Ozu’s excellent sense of humanism but his ability to share the emotional resonance of his characters with the viewer. Wait for that final scene and be spellbound! Ironically, if it hadn’t been for Ozu’s estranged relationship with his father - he might never had so much tenderness to convey in his films.