MOVIE · 1951
Early Summer
ComedyDramaRomance125 min
In postwar Japan, a large Tokyo family begins quietly arranging a future for Noriko, a 28-year-old office worker who still lives at home and seems in no hurry to marry. Relatives compare suitable matches, trade advice, and assume the decision belongs to the family as much as to her. As conversations spread through the household and workplace, small misunderstandings and private wishes start to pull against those expectations. Noriko, played by Setsuko Hara, listens politely but keeps her own counsel, and what looks like an ordinary marriage discussion gradually exposes different ideas about duty, independence, and what a family can ask of one of its own.
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