Noriko Smiling

by Adam Mars-Jones

'Late Spring, directed and co-written by Yasujiro Ozu, was released in 1949, which makes it an old film, or a film that has been new for a long time...' So begins this remarkable essay in narrative reconstruction, which elicits a world of meanings from the reticences of one classic Japanese movie, and reserves to the very end a resolution of its mystery. Adam Mars-Jones gives a virtuoso comeback performance as that lost figure from the earl days of cinema: the film explainer. There has never been a film book like this one.

Genres: Film, Japan, Literature, Nonfiction

238 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2011

About the author

Adam Mars-Jones is a British writer and critic.

Reviews

[Oliver Kim]

The audience for this book could probably fit in an East Village studio apartment, with room for the furniture. It's a 240-page essay entirely on Yasujiro Ozu's 1949 film Late Spring, one of the most moving portraits of family life in all of art, and -- depending on the day, and whether I've seen Umbrellas of Cherbourg more recently -- my favorite movie.

In a meandering but always congenial style, Mars-Jones dispels some of the more Orientalist and exoticized readings of the film promoted by previous critics like Paul Schrader and Donald Richie. This is welcome, but Mars-Jones cannot speak or read Japanese, and so can only rely on other scholars (most of all Lars-Martin Sorensen, who wrote a book on censorship during the American occupation) and an obsessive willingness to smash the DVD pause button.

The middle part of the essay, which delves into a close reading of key scenes -- occasionally slowing even to a second-by-second pace -- is slow going. I'm with Mars-Jones on the first part of his critique: the Schrader stuff about transcendentalism and zen in Ozu's style always struck me as overenthusiastic, Chrysanthemum and the Sword-style essentializing about the mysterious Other. But I don't have enough knowledge of Japan to assess some of his more constructive arguments, like the claim that Noriko's enigmatic smile and her reluctance to get married are a reflection of some wartime sexual trauma from forced labor. And, Mars-Jones admits, neither does he.

For me, what gives Ozu movies their enormous staying power, and what makes a second-by-second reading feel so inadequate, is their elliptical quality. You're always left wanting a little more -- a little more explanation, a little more movement, a little more emotional release. This makes those scenes that finally do give the audience some relief, like the lonely end of Late Spring, so powerful -- even with (or especially because) of the treacly music playing on top.

But after reading Mars-Jones's essay, part of me wonders if what I've been reacting to emotionally is a species of Schrader-and-Richie style Orientalizing. Dialogue that would seem mundane in English may seem more profound when in subtitles. (The words are beamed directly to your brain in your own voice, stripped of the colloquialisms of the characters onscreen.) The odd, stilted behavior of Ozu's characters, which I always thought was meant to give a stagelike feeling intended to heighten the emotions, may just reflect cultural and historical conditions that I don't quite understand.

The thought makes me a little sad. Can too much analysis ruin a profound artistic experience? It's possible, and perhaps narrows the reading audience of this book even further. But I hope not. For the ten or so of you who perked up reading this review, you should still pick it up, and let me know what you think.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book because Late Spring is one of my favorite movies. Also this Notting Hill edition is so lovely and was a pleasure to read. I loved the smaller size of the linen covered book, the font, and the red page numbers. I hear that other Notting Hill editions have ribbon bookmarks, too.
Noriko Smiling was fun to read because of such in depth analysis of the movie. Although I didn't agree with Mr. Mars-Jones in his strong insistence on the reason for Noriko's reluctance to marriage. I think her freedom and happiness living with her father was enough of a reason.
IMHO, I think the movie's story is about the love between a father and daughter. They both want happiness for the other. Whether they need to leave behind the happiness that they have now and move into a unknown future to achieve that goal is another matter.

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was inspired to read Adam Mars-Jones' book on Yasujiro Ozu's 1949 film Late Spring, Noriko Smiling (2010) after reading about it in Film Comment. I own the film so I watched it again before starting the book and I may have to go back and watch it again to confirm some of Mars' observations of the film that I couldn't corroborate. Most of the book is related to his observations and theories of the film, but clearly he has also read everything he could find in English about it and has a wealth of interesting things to say about this film, Ozu, Japan in 1949, censorship during the occupation, and even Akira Kurosawa. It turns out Kurosawa released his film noir master work (that I have written about in journal articles twice) Stray Dog in 1949 as well. Kurosawa also faced troubles with the censors and acted much the same as Ozu-following some suggestions and ignoring others. At any rate, Mars is not afraid of challenging celebrated critics: "When (Donald) Richie turns Ozu into a religious artist, to be approached only by the initiated, I think he's plain wrong. Sometimes works of art need to be defended against thier advocates, and great films rescued from their reputations. Masterpieces are not fragile but robust. They can stand up to more than a reverent dusting." He also has problems with Paul Schrader's focus on the Transcendent and says :" Sometimes Schrader seems like a true believer who will use thumbscrews on you if you don't accept the principle of non-attachment." He discusses a book by Lars-Martin Sorenson called Censorship of Japanese Films During the Occupation of Japan (2009) and reveals some interesting tidbits about this topic. First of all, the offices for the two groups involved in censorship were housed in the Hattori Building in Ginza that is used as the Tokyo establishing shot twice in the film-a sort of inside joke. He also identifies some changes that needed to be made and others that were ignored. Another interesting observation Mars made about the film suggests that two shots of English signage that I missed or didn't pay attention to were inadvertently showing that there were occupational forces there: a Coke-a-Cola sign and signage on weight limits on a bridge. His big theory, which has some merit, is that Noriko experience some sort of sexual trauma when she was doing forced labor during the war. And that would explain her aversion to marriage and her attitude about her father's friend Mr. Oonodera being dirty for having remarried after his wife died. I find Noriko's behavior difficult to understand and this makes as much sense as any other explanation to me.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Late Spring" can appear to be a thin film, and you can easily dig into commentary tracks or reviews and find that there are hidden depths to it. But Adam Mars-Jones does an extraordinary job digging even deeper, looking at the what we are shown and speculating on the reasons Ozu violates the editing grammar of films that we have thoroughly internalized. A concluding chapter looks at the censorship of film and print in occupied Japan as well as the script to consider how this impacted the film that was made.
Mars-Jones has a healthy fresh take on the whole thing and seems eager that his own treatment not become ossified into the last word on the subject. At the conclusion, echoing words said at the outset, he writes
"In the process we happily go along with the obvious untruth that great art is immortal. Of course art is mortal, just as the people who make it, but in a different way. In the long run it's the museum curztor, defending treasures from handling, who is the real vandal. Works of art have more to fear from the embalming processs than from straight-forward rust or rot."

[Austin Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Film criticism Is so often dull in a dreary sort of academic way. Yet Adam Mars-Jones has managed to tackle the challenge in a most entertaining fashion. Not only did I feel that this book offered some great insight to the film "Late Spring" that I failed to register in my amateur reading, but the author is genuinely funny. I found myself laughing aloud as he subverted other critical responses into comic foolishness, all while maintaining a certain slyness. This was unlike any piece of criticism I have come across in my admittedly limited experience. That being said I give this book the highest of recommendations to anyone even slightly interested in film criticism or the movie "Late Spring".

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb! Close reading of Yasujirō Ozu's film 'Late Spring'. The character's secrets are convincingly explained through historical context.