"Early summer" maybe the most unknown of the "Noriko trilogy" ("Late spring" (1949), "Early summer" (1951) and "Tokyo story" (1953)), it is however certainly worthwile.
The films of Ozu are all about family relations. In the Noriko trilogy they are all about Noriko, a single (never married or widow) woman in her late twenties played by Setsuko Hara (in "Tokyo story" however the parents in law of Noriko also play at least an equally important part).
An important question in the Noriko trilogy is if and with whom Noriko ought to marry. The pre war idea that the upbringing of a girl ends with her marriage when the responsibility transfers from the parents to the husband clashes with the post war idea of the individual freedom of the young woman.
We see this clash not only in the story line but also in the set pieces (very important in an Ozu movie because he works with a static camera). We see the old father meditating in a traditional Japanese house. In another scene we see Noriko dining with some of her friends (some married and others still single) in a very modern restaurant (that almost looks '70s style to me).
