Late Spring
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu,1949
Director Yasujiro Ozu uses dolly moves to construct a harmonious experience in his 1949 film Late Spring.
Many people repeat the idea that Yasujiro Ozu’s movies employ a static, or fixed camera angle at all times. But this isn’t true. Rather, Ozu chooses to use a moving camera sparingly, picking key moments to deploy movement intentionally in order to aid in the construction of a specific experience.
In his 1949 masterpiece Late Spring, Ozu uses several dolly moves in a sequence early in the film in order to build an the experience of total harmony. This experience of harmony stands in contrast with the experience throughout the rest of the film, which is presented using an entirely static camera. In this sense, Ozu uses the dolly movement to construct what is nearly an alternate universe in the film, or at the very least a moment of reprieve in an otherwise difficult world.
The sequence begins with a shot that feels as if it is gliding across a picturesque oceanfront landscape, accompanied by an upbeat and whimsical score. This shot lasts for nearly twenty seconds before cutting into single shot coverage.​​​
Keep in mind that directly prior to this scene, Noriko's father has mentioned to his friend that Noriko is unmarried, and that now is time for her to get married, lest she become an old spinster. Understand that in Japanese culture at this period in time, a woman's marriage was an all-important matter. Unmarried women did not exist in the same way they do in the contemporary West. We also know at this point that Hattori, the young man who will appear in this sequence, is Noriko's father's assistant.
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The singles are also gliding, or dollying, through space, and because we are framed in tight wide shots—we can't see the bicycles—the characters feel as if they are floating across the landscape.
The singles last for five seconds each, for a total of ten seconds, before Ozu cuts to a long shot from behind, in which the camera continues to glide across the landscape following the action of the center-framed characters. This shot lasts for ten seconds before Ozu cuts back into singles, which last for twenty more seconds.
Ozu then cuts to two more angles of this sequence. The first angle is a wide frontal, which dollies back with the characters as they approach the camera, while the second angle, a wide shot from the side, pans with them as they travel across the landscape. These shots last for a little under 20 seconds before Ozu cuts back into the singles.
The presentation to this point is one of complete harmony, almost comically so. Just to make sure you're paying attention, Ozu throws in one more cut back to singles, this time with dialogue which drives the point home, showing the viewer how in sync and happy Noriko is with Hattori.
At this point, the dolly sequence ends and Noriko and Hattori park their bikes on the beach and sit on the grass, appearing to flirt with each other. However, in the very next scene, it is revealed via a conversation between Noriko's father and Noriko's aunt that Hattori is engaged—and not to Noriko. Suddenly, the air has been let out of the tires. Ozu lulls the viewer into a false sense of harmony with a lengthy presentation before pulling the rug. Why has Ozu spent so much time building out a set of false expectations? Perhaps Ozu has devised a strategy to build empathy between his viewer and Noriko by guiding the viewer through this unfair experience. In the scene directly prior to the dolly sequence, it is mentioned that Noriko suffered during the war, which transpired only a few years before the events of the film, and we know Noriko is in and out of the hospital to have her blood checked as a result of her suffering. It is mentioned that she lost weight due to lack of food and forced labor during the war, and we learn later in the film that Noriko lost her mother during those years as well—the person who would be taking care of her father in Noriko's place. We can also assume based on common knowledge of war that young male bachelors were off fighting and dying during the years that Noriko was most eligible for marriage. Perhaps if there had been no war, Noriko would already have been happily married by the age we come to meet her in this film; living off with her husband and perhaps young child somewhere well away from her hometown. Instead, she is unwed and the sole caretaker of her aging father, In this sense, Ozu brings the viewer up to speed by crafting a small sample of the disrupted harmony Noriko has experienced prior to the events of the film, allowing the viewer to empathize with her more fully.
Ozu uses simple dolly moves, as well as music and body language, in order to construct a sequence full of harmony. This sequence, in contrast with prior and subsequent events in the film, elicits a larger sense of something lost; of an unfair yet inevitable tragedy. It is quite remarkable how simply and elegantly Ozu is able to construct this tapestry of enormously complex emotional realities. This simple sequence becomes a foundational moment for one of the most poignant stories ever told in cinema.