About Early Summer, Ozu stated, "I was interested in getting much deeper than just the story itself; I wanted to depict the cycles of life, the transience of life....Consequently, I didn't force the action, but tried to leave some spaces unfilled...leave viewers with a pleasant aftertaste." As Donald Richie notes, "These tiny empty moments are the pores in an Ozu picture through which the movie breathes. They define the film by their emptiness. They are examples of mu, a Zen aesthetic term implying...nothingness; they are also examples of care and respect." Each of the members of Early Summer's endearing postwar family practices not wanting too much-except for the children, whose natural greed Ozu indulges good naturedly. The "aftertaste" is a bit sad, however, as a daughter marries, a family dissolves, leaving parents alone to contemplate their life and their hopes for the children. Savoring transience, like the old uncle who stares out at the garden, their gaze extends the film beyond the edges of the screen.