Late Spring

A heartbreaking and fragile story of family devotion and sacrifice, Yasujiro Ozu presents here perhaps his most perfect film. Chisu Ryu takes up his consummate role of the solitary and thoughtful father, a widower who lives with his young daughter Noriko. Fearful that Noriko will never marry in order to care for him, the father and various supporting family members attempt to find a match for the young daughter, but to no avail. Eventually he is forced to trick his daughter, by pretending to remarry himself, thus forcing the daughter to break out on her own. Relations between father and Noriko come to a sentimental head as the two take a final trip together to Kyoto. Upon returning, Noriko is married and moves away, and the father is left alone. The simple and elegant visual and narrative structure of the film allows the universal story of a father giving up his daughter in marriage to unfurl succinctly and compellingly, making this one of Ozu's most loved films. (official distributor synopsis)