YMMV / Late Spring

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Some have theorized that Noriko is either asexual or Ambiguously Gay; for the former, she has absolutely no interest in romance and thinks she'll have to give up her happy life with her father in marrying any man, and for the latter, she gets along far better with her single female friend than she does with most men. Notably, director Yasujiro Ozu remained unmarried for his whole life and lived with his mother until her death (and he died shortly after), and his sexuality was also brought into question numerous times.
  • In keeping with the question of whether Noriko is asexual, some have wondered if she is disgusted by the idea of remarriage after spousal death because she sees it as a betrayal of matrimonial values, or if in her eyes, getting married once is bad enough.
• Values Dissonance:
  • An unmarried 27-year-old is hardly considered an Old Maid today. At the time the film was made, Noriko was edging extremely close to the end of her "shelf life" as a young woman in Japan.
  • Many critics have acknowledged that it would impossible to do a western remake of the film without inevitable suggestions of Incest Subtext, whereas Japanese audiences found nothing inappropriate in the plot and viewed Noriko's relationship with her father as an Intergenerational Friendship. Furthermore, western audiences are more likely to side with Shukichi's urging of Noriko to make her own happiness and not tie herself to him for the rest of his life as it falls more in line with western independence, whereas Ozu had intended for Noriko to symbolize the conservative Japanese values he espoused.
  • Shukichi as a Bumbling Dad. His incompetence for domestic chores would be seen as something to fix in another movie, but there's never a suggestion that he can learn to take care of himself so Noriko doesn't have to worry about him.