Late Spring belongs to the type of Japanese cinema known as shomin-geki, a genre that deals with the ordinary daily lives of working-class and middle-class people of post-war Japan. The film is frequently regarded as the first in the director’s final creative period.

In this film, 27-year-old Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry. The father-daughter relationship buckles under the demands of Japanese society that was patriarchal and yet rapidly becoming westernised.

Late Spring is the first instalment of Yasujirô Ozu’s Noriko Trilogy, followed by Early Summer in 1951 and Tokyo Story in 1953, in each of which actress Setsuko Hara portrays a young woman named Noriko. Though the three Norikos are distinct and unrelated characters, they are linked primarily by their status as single women in postwar Japan.

In Late Spring, Yasujirô Ozu employs a minimalist style, renouncing melodrama and overt action for a quiet, contemplative approach that allows for profound emotional depth. The performances are subdued and tender, with each character’s smallest action or word conveying immense feeling, which is central to the film’s powerful emotional effect.

Ozu focussed on everyday life and complex family dynamics in a changing Japanese society. His visual style was characterized by minimalism, stillness, contemplative pacing, and restraint, which brought emotional authenticity into his character-driven narratives. Ozu’s style influenced the works of notable directors such as Wim Wenders and Hong Sang-soo.