Early Spring

Early Spring (早春, Sōshun) is a 1956 Japanese film by Yasujirō Ozu and starring Chikage Awashima, Ryō Ikebe and Keiko Kishi. It is about a married salaryman who escapes the monotony of married life and his work at a fire brick manufacturing company by beginning an affair with a fellow office worker. The film also deals with the hardships of the salaryman lifestyle. "I wanted," Ozu said, "to portray what you might call the pathos of the white-collar life." With a runtime of 144 minutes, Early Spring is Ozu's longest surviving film, and his penultimate shot in black and white.