Spoilers

(1951) Early Summer
This is definitely one of the best from Ozu I’ve seen thus far. Once again Noriko and Aya are single, and everyone wants Noriko to marry. Her boss tries to set her up with one of his old class mates, and he really is old. At 40, he’s 12 years older than Noriko, and her family doesn’t approve. But that doesn’t mean that she can just marry anyone she wants. When Noriko decides to marry an old friend of her brothers(her brother is an MIA), they immediately disaprove of her not choice; partly because he is a widower and already has a child, but mostly because they didn’t pick him. Noriko makes the right choice, and in this film Ozu is asserting that in a modern Japan it is up to the woman to choose who she will marry, and not her family. He breaks down many barriers here.

Noriko is a hero.