053 4 An elderly rural Japanese couple visits Tokyo to spend some time with their children . The film isn't always clear about ' who is who ' , so I will clarify it for you . There are two daughters - the domineering and selfish married one Shige , and the young girl who still lives with her parents in the country , Kyoko . The couple had three sons . Koichi is a doctor , but in a society in which doctors were not wealthy as they are today . Keiki ( or whatever his name is ) is a young railroad employee who doesn't live in Tokyo and is single . The other son died in the war , but his widow Noriko plays a prominent role in the film . The elderly couple is Shukishi and his wife Tomi .
There are also two grandchildren in the film , the young sons of Koichi and his wife Fumiko or something . The pre-teen throws a bit of a tantrum , and the little boy is cute but ignores his grandparents .
The story is a little reminiscent of King Lear . The children don't want to be bothered by their parents even though they haven't seen them in many years and will never see them again . They don't behave cruelly to their parents , but they do behave selfishly and thoughtlessly . One gets the feeling that if there was anything to gain , if these parents had a kingdom to give as Lear did , the children would have resorted to cruelty to get it .
An example of Shige's nastiness is when she criticizes her husband for buying little pastries for her parents because the pastries are too good for them , and then starts to eat them herself . That's a beauty , isn't it .
Shige finds ways to criticize and dominate the others in the story , including her parents . I notice that the only character who puts her in her place is her mellow , pleasant father . When Shige criticizes him for drinking a cup of sake , he orders her not to worry about it , and ignores and defies her , which shuts her up . Her own husband is henpecked by her .
Balancing out Shige's nastiness and cheapness , there is Noriko , not even a blood relative , the widow of the dead son . She is the only one who truly cares for the parents , particularly for Tomi . When the other children are finding ways to get the parents out of their house , Noriko is thrilled to have the opportunity to take them around Tokyo .
The movie doesn't say so , but I suspect that Noriko is so drawn to the elderly couple because she loved their son so much , and it is her way of continuing to love him , to be kind to his parents and to actually have them with her , since she can't have him with her . I could see someone being very excited to be with the parents of a lost love , and fawning on them .
The Japanese people in this film talk in conventions , say the correct thing , the polite thing , the expected thing . It seems frustrating to an American to hear all this nonsense , all of these cliches , all the false modesty and so on , that epitomize Japanese conversation . Shige is good at it , and she is as phony as a four dollar bill . She is the one who busts out crying when she is supposed to , when the more honest characters , the ones who actually feel sad , do not .
The father very definitely uses this convention as well . But in his hands , it is a way to smooth difficulties over . There is some artistry and some usefulness in the way he uses conventions to get through difficult situations without rancor .
One theme of the film is the thoughtlessness and selfishness of children . I think it is a valid point . Once a child enters , or even approaches , the teen years , the parents often become little more than financial providers . Dad , give me a car . Dad , I need money . That's about it . Babies love their parents , but grown children often don't really care about them except for what they can get out of them , which of course they don't appreciate , since they are entitled to whatever they want , and the parents are not entitled to a thing .
This story didn't take it in exactly that direction , because the parents don't have anything to give . So the kids just ignore them and get rid of them .
There is an interesting scene at the end when the father is praising Noriko for her generosity and love . He is , of course , a very sharp man . Noriko denies that she has those good qualities . She isn't being falsely modest . She is admitting that she has her dark side , which she hasn't shown . So the father praises her for her honesty , and continues to disagree with her about her character . He understands what she's saying . He just interprets her differently than she does .
There is a poignant line in that conversation . Noriko says that she doesn't think of his son every day . Sometimes a few days will pass in her life when she doesn't think of him . The father says that he hopes she will forget his son and remarry . The touching thing is that even if a day goes by when she doesn't think of her former husband , not too many days in a row go by without her loving thoughts of him .
The commentary is informative but I found it disconcerting that the speaker sometimes says Noriko but more often says Nordico . I realize that the R in Japanese can be said like a D , but it will not be pronounced like an RD , and he really should have made up his mind which way to say it . Since his Japanese accent is atrocious , he should have stuck with Noriko .
This is a good enough film to warrant you seeing it twice as I did , once as performed , and once listening to the commentary and trying to ignore all those Nordico's . But you can't now , since I brought them to your attention .
001 4 Like many of Ozu's films , Tokyo Story ( Tokyo Monogatari ) examines a very simple stage in life , one that I hope most of us will be lucky enough to encounter at some time or another . In this case , it is how we treat our parents once we no longer need them for survival . Are they a bother ? Do we resent their old-fashioned ways and slower pace ? Are we perhaps a bit too eager to shuffle them to the sidelines ?
The story seems so simple , an elderly couple leaves the country to visit their children who have moved away to Tokyo . Country folk meet city folk , age meets youth , life meets death . There are no big blow-ups , no crisis points reached or contrived dramas , just life flowing along as it does . In Ozu's gentle hands , the entire story is told between the lines , with perhaps not a single sentence of direct dialog spoken in the film . Under the calm surface is an ocean of depth , emotions flowing with an unstoppable power , yet never able to breach the veneer of etiquette and politeness .
Ozu's usual cast in at their best . Chishu Ryu plays the father perfectly , flawed and kind , strict in his youth yet lenient in his old age , he is a father-figure more than a father to his impatient children . Chieko Higashiyama plays the kind and appreciative mother , much the same character as in Early Summer . As always , Setsuko Hara , Japan's Eternal Virgin , brings light and love into an otherwise dismal story playing Noriko , the widowed Daughter-in-law of Ryu and Higashiyama's son . Setsuko is ironically the only one of their children to appreciate the aged parents , even though she is not a blood-child .
Tokyo Story forced me to examine my own treatment of my parents , and consider how I will be treated when it is my time to visit my children . Will they dread my coming ? Am I kind to my parents ? That is the kind of power this film has .
Of course , the Criterion Collection presentation is wonderful , with one of the best transfers of Tokyo Story I have seen . It is far from flawless , but vastly superior to my old VHS copy . The extra documentaries are delightful , and offer some insight into Ozu that in turn offers insight into his wonderful films .
002 4 Ozu's Tokyo Story is simply the most emotionally profound film I have ever seen . It is the sort of film that , after seeing it , may easily change you . I originally purchased the film because I was incredibly interested in the Ozu style . There are many aspects of this little Japanese man's style , including shots of nature to break up the story , the tatami mat camera angle , the unmoving camera , and the shooting of characters speaking directly into the camera ( which makes it all the more profound , it puts the viewer into the story ) . Ozu scarcely EVER drifted from this style , therefore it MUST have been quite incredible , for he never had the desire to change it . However , although I was compelled by the extremely elegant filmmaking style , it was the emotional impact that sticks with me the most . The story felt very slow as it unwound , with much of the dialogue feeling very small talk-ish . However , despite the fact I was initially disappointed by this small talk-like dialogue , by the end , I realized this slowness of developement made the end all the more powerful . This ending was so powerful that I was completely in tears for the final half hour or so of the film . This film was SO profound that I felt moved upon viewing it . Near the end of the picture , when one of the daughters stated Life is too short . I was moved . I felt compelled to go out and live it up , for life IS too short . I also realized that I need to be much kinder to my parents , for they give me so much , and they will not be around forever . As is said in one of the more famous and compelling lines from the film , One cannot serve his parents from beyond the grave .
You will be moved beyond words by one of the greatest films of all time , Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story
003 4 Often voted one of the greatest films of all time , Yasujiro Ozu's most famous film ( made in 1953 , but not released in the US until years later ) follows an elderly couple as they leave their seaside town where they live with their youngest daughter , Kyoko , to visit their two eldest surviving children , Shige and Koichi , in Tokyo , stopping to meet their youngest son , Keizo , in Osaka along the way . Although their children seem to mean well , they are greatly inconvenienced by their parents ' visit and do not take time off from work to show them around the city , instead asking their widowed sister-in-law Noriko to squire them about instead ; Koichi's young sons treat his grandparents with sullen rudeness . Finally , Shige and Koichi dump their parents off at a hot springs resort not far from Tokyo , where the elderly couple feel out of place . On their return by train home , the mother becomes mortally ill , and the grief-stricken children and Noriko must come bury their mother and must face up to or ignore their previous treatment of her and their father .
Ozu considered his film a melodrama because it dealt more straightforwardly with life's tragedies and with grief than his other family dramas from his famed later period do . The film suggests a fairy tale , or King Lear , in that we , like the elderly couple , are positioned to judge the children and Noriko according to who is least and most filial ; yet Ozu requires we see the selfishness of the children and the neglect of the parents in more complex terms . ( Though this seems beyond the DVD's commentator , David Desser , whose intelligent technical shot-by-shot analysis of the film seems seriously marred by his willingness to engage in simplistic moral judgements of the characters . ) Certainly the film is a commentary on human selfishness and the dangers of familial dispersal in an era of alienating modernity after the second World War ( when Tokyo , the film's locus for modernity , has been rebuilt almost from the ground up ) . Yet the film celebrates the new Tokyo as much as it condemns it , and the couple admits to themselves that though their children are not as nice as they remembered , they are happy they are busy and can care for themselves . And the most selfless member of the younger generation Noriko ( played by the great Japanese actress Setsuko Hara ) points out to the stay-at-home Kyoko that while her siblings appear selfish they have their own lives to lead now that they are in middle age and their own families to care for . And Shige , who seems the most monstrously selfish and hypocritical of the children , seems to have some reasons for resenting her parents : some ridiculous ( being embarrassed by her mother's weight as a child when she broke a chair she was sitting in ) , and others more pointed ( her father's tendency to drink heavily before the birth of Kyoko ) . Ozu is too intelligent and humane to cast this story in terms fo Manichaean opposities ; indeed , just as he seems at times to deplore Tokyo's sprawl and industrial quality , he also has the parents and Nariko take a guided bus tour of the city and shows off the city's ability to have bounced back after its Allied war bombing . One of the greatest pleasures of the film are its superb framed compositions , especially in his transitional sequences where he shows us empty rooms , as if to emphasize the transitory nature of human life and family affairs .
004 4 I saw this film when I was really young . I was told that it's a classic , and while I was respectful in my opinion about it , I never really got it . Having aged a bit , and opening my eyes even more to the world , I saw this film again , and then it hit me on how powerful , sad , and truthful it really is . It's done with so much real emotion , sadness , and subtlety that it doesn't really hit you until the film is over . Even thinking about it now makes me sad because it's filled with truth , that truth you know exists and can't get away from . You see what the children do with their parents , and you say to yourself I won't do that , but you end up doing it anyway , not because you're an evil person , but because it's just time in the cycle of life for that to happen . Ozu was as great as any of the auteurs , like Kurosawa and Mizoguchi . It was such a shame that he died at 60 , a very young age for a great artist . As artists age , they get better , their visions deepen . I am saddened that Ozu was taken from us at such an early age , but his work will always remain with us . Thank you , Mr . Ozu . . .
005 4 I saw this movie several years ago with some 100% Japanese girlfriends who had never been to Japan , and rented this tape to prepare their 1st visit w / their Japanese family in Japan . I am only half Japanese , but spent the first 8 years of my life there and return quite frequently . I don't think there is another movie out there that can really flood my eyes . The director's narrative and cinematography to this story is so precise and poignant about families , universally , is what makes it such a High rated classic . The children grow up , move away from their family in the countryside and forget about their parents , even when they come to visit . Busy and tirelessly uncontent with their own lives in Tokyo , hiding their lack of success in the big city , the children never see the true blessing to their existence and the joy of family . The parents realize they raised a bunch of selfish children who really don't care much about them and decide to maybe return home . There is one character who has lost her parents and is more than willing to take the visiting parents around . The children are striving for other material happiness , yet the very thing that could root them is what they avoid , family .
Around the world I have seen the happiest families , 3 generations , under one roof . Somehow when families depart and move it's easy to forget and avoid and eventually isolate . This movie reminds me of my family life in Japan , the honesty of the charcters and actions and non-actions had me sobbing the whole way through . This movie transcends all languages and families as these emotions are the human condition . Oddly enough , my Japanese-American friends were confused by how emotional this movie made me . Sadly , I really felt their family value : detatched . This movie is a great reminder to respect your family , no matter what . Their time is not forever , and neither is yours .
006 4 As someone who works with the elderly I see the sad truth of Tokyo Monogatari played out over and over and over again on a daily basis . Director Ozu tells us in a raw and naked way what is truly a heart breaking story , the stark reality of parent / child relationships through generational life cycles and the gaps that are created . But he tells it in a non apologetic or biased voice . It is what it is , good or bad ; it's part of the human condition .
It's the story of an elderly couple who go to visit with their children , whom they rarely see , but find that the children are too busy to be with them making all kinds of unimportant excuses as to why . While this story is age old and relevant , even more so more than 50 years later , Ozu doesn't go for dramatic tactics to rip at our hearts , but in typical Japanese fashion he says so much with restrained expression and simplistic language . Every one , except for the daughter who openly shows her irritation at having to deal with her parents , is smiling all the time , even though their eyes and body language tell a different story . We feel uncomfortable as we watch them all sitting around trying to make polite conversation and not knowing really how to be .
Chishu Ryu and Chieko Higashiyama play the elderly father and mother so well that we cannot understand how the children cannot bring themselves to sacrifice even a small amount of time to be with them , much less revere them . This film does make us question our own beliefs and actions in how we treat our elders and also how we only briefly reflect on what's important only after it's too late . However , Ozu manages to draw our attention to all sides of the story and we can see that familial relationships are more complex than just the black and white of we should respect our elders or love our children no matter how they turn out , or we are evil , bad people .
The one bright spot in this whole film , and one that gives us all hope that there are truly good , decent people out there in the universe who do the right thing no matter what cost to themselves is the daughter-in-law , who is so beautifully played by Setsuko Hara . And she truly loves the parents even though they are not her blood relatives , while feeling guilty for slowly forgetting their dead son , her husband .
Bottom line , this is a very poignant and sadly beautiful film that touches the heart deeply on so many levels and it's worth watching for the simple , yet intense , portrayal of it all .
007 4 This review is from :
Tokyo Story - Criterion Collection ( DVD )
Fifty years after this film's release and 100 years after Ozu's birth , audiences in America can now ( re ) discover this masterpiece . The slow tempo and laser-focus on human lives that Ozu employs is strangely moving . Within a minimalist frame , Ozu paints his characters richly . Instead of bombast , Ozu gives us authenticity . When good-natured parents leave their village to visit their grown children in the big city , it's easy to feel contempt when the parents are shuffled-off to a spa . Yet Ozu does not create villains . He also shows the goodness in these flawed characters . The children have eaked out a survival in Tokyo by struggling through the lean years after the war , which accounts in part for their callousness . Yet Ozu does not excuse their human failure , he is more interested in portraying them for the viewer to observe and be inspired . I think this film will move the viewer towards courtesy , kindness and compassion .
And with two DVDs included ( the second with almost 3 hours of additional documentaries ) it is worth the money .
008 4 Fifty years after this film's release and 100 years after Ozu's birth , audiences in America can now ( re ) discover this masterpiece . The slow tempo and laser-focus on human lives that Ozu employs is strangely moving . Within a minimalist frame , Ozu paints his characters richly . Instead of bombast , Ozu gives us authenticity . When good-natured parents leave their village to visit their grown children in the big city , it's easy to feel contempt when the parents are shuffled-off to a spa . Yet Ozu does not create villains . He also shows the goodness in these flawed characters . The children have eaked out a survival in Tokyo by struggling through the lean years after the war , which accounts in part for their callousness . Yet Ozu does not excuse their human failure , he is more interested in portraying them for the viewer to observe and be inspired . I think this film will move the viewer towards courtesy , kindness and compassion .
And with two DVDs included ( the second with almost 3 hours of additional documentaries ) it is worth the money .
009 4 One of the enduring classics by celebrated master Ozu , this melancholic dissection of family dynamics in postwar Japan may sound simplistic , but Story packs an emotional punch as it observes the erosion of traditional values in modern lifeways . Among a uniformly strong cast , Higashiyama and Ryu give low-key , heartbreaking performances as the jilted parents - - who seem bewildered as much by the clamor of the city as by their children's inhospitable behavior . Story may be understated , but Ozu's quiet , immobile visual style and deft direction reflect the nuances of everyday existence like no one else .
010 4 I think this movie is amazing for reasons I was not expecting . I had heard of Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story for several years but never had an opportunity to see it until Criterion resuscitated it as part of their DVD collection . Over fifty years old , this wondrous 1953 film resonates just as deeply today . Those outside Japan rarely get to see a Japanese film classic that doesn't involve samurai warriors in medieval battles . This one , however , is a subtly observed family drama set in post-WWII Japan , and it is the quietude and lack of pretense of Ozu's filmmaking style that makes this among the most moving of films .
The plot centers on Shukishi and Tomi , an elderly couple , who traverse the country from their southern fishing village of Onomichi to visit their adult children , daughter Shige and son Koichi , in Tokyo . Leading their own busy lives , the children realize their obligation to entertain them and pack them off to Atami , a nearby resort targeted to weekend revelers . Returning to Tokyo unexpectedly , Tomi visits their kindly daughter-in-law , Noriko , the widow of second son Shoji , while Shukishi gets drunk with some old companions . The old couple realizes they have become a burden to their children and decide to return to Onomichi . They also have a younger daughter Kyoko , a schoolteacher who lives with them , and younger son Keizo works for the train company in Osaka . By now the children , except for Kyoko and the dutiful Noriko , have given up on their parents , even when Tomi takes ill in Osaka on the way back home . From this seemingly convoluted , trivial-sounding storyline , fraught with soap opera possibilities , Ozu has fashioned a heartfelt and ultimately ironic film that focuses on the details in people's lives rather than a single dramatic situation .
What fascinates me about Ozu's idiosyncratic style is how he relies on insinuation to carry his story forward . In fact , some of the more critical events happen off-camera because Ozu's simple , penetrating observations of these characters ' lives remain powerfully insightful without being contrived . Ozu scholar David Desser , who provides insightful commentary on the alternate audio track , explains this concept as narrative ellipses , Ozu's singularly effective means of providing emotional continuity to a story without providing all the predictable detail in between . Ozu also positions his camera low throughout his film to replicate the perspective of someone sitting on a tatami mat . It adds significantly to the humanity he evokes . There are no melodramatic confrontations among the characters , no masochistic showboating , and the dialogue is deceptively casual , as even the most off-hand remark bears weight into the story . The film condemns no one and its sense of inevitability carries with it only certain resigned sadness . What amazes me most is how the ending is so cathartic because the characters feel so real to me , not because there are manipulative plot developments , even death , which force me to feel for them .
I just love the performances , as they have a neo-realism that makes them all the more affecting . Chishu Ryu and Chieko Higashiyama are wonderfully authentic as Shukishi and Tomi , perfectly conveying the resignation they feel about their lives and their children without slipping into cheap sentimentality . Higashiyama effortlessly displays the sunny demeanor of a grandmother , so when sadness does take over in her life , it becomes all the more haunting . In particular , she has a beautiful scene where Tomi looks forlornly at her grandchild wondering what he will be when he grows up and whether she will live to see what happens . Even more heartbreaking is the scene where Shukishi and Tomi sit in Ueno Park realizing their children have no time for them and are resigned to the fact that they need to find a place to sleep for the night . The closest the film has to a villain is Shige , portrayed fearlessly by Haruko Sugimura , who is able to show respect , pettiness and conniving in a realistically mercurial fashion . Watch her as she complains about the expensive cakes her husband bought for her parents ( as she selfishly eats them herself ) or how she finagles Koichi to co-finance the trip to Atami or how she shows her frustration when her parents come home early from the spa . So Yamamura ( familiar to later Western audiences as Admiral Yamamoto in Tora ! Tora ! Tora ! ) displays the right amount of indifference as Koichi , and Kyoko Kagawa has a few sharp lines toward the end of the film as the disappointed Kyoko .
But the best performance comes from the legendary Setsuko Hara , a luminous actress whose beauty and sensitivity remind me of Olivia de Havilland during the same era . As Noriko , she is breathtaking in showing her character's modesty , her unforced generosity in spite of her downscale status and her constant smile as a mask for her pain . She has a number of deeply affecting moments , for instance , when Noriko explains to Shukishi and Tomi how she misses her husband , even though it is implied he was a brutalizing alcoholic ; or the touching goodbye to Kyoko ; or her pained embarrassment over the high esteem that Shukishi holds for her kindness . Don't expect fireworks or any shocking moments , just a powerfully emotional film in spite of its seemingly modest approach . The two-disc DVD set has the commentary from Desser on the first disc , as well as the trailer . On the second disc , there are two excellent documentaries . One is a comprehensive 1983 , two-hour feature focused on Ozu's life and career , and the second is a 40 - minute tribute from several international movie directors .
011 4 To appreciate this movie , keep in mind while watching it that traditional Japanese behavior is to restrict expressing your own opinion . Japanese people do not say , do you want to . . . ; instead , they say , will you . . . ? Because of this , you must pay really close attention to the words and actions of others to discover how they are really feeling . Try to put yourself into the shoes of each person in this film , and you will feel enlightened when the movie is over .
This movie is about a kind old couple who take a trip to visit their grown children in a big city across the country . However , they soon get the feeling that they are imposing on their children's lives , and do all they can to keep out of the way . Eventually they leave for home , but the old woman grows gravely ill along the way .
That is only the outward-facing plot of the movie . The movie is really about priorities ( culture and peace of mind versus your own self-interests ) , relationships , and loyalty .
A word of warning : this is a kleenex movie !
012 4 This review is from :
Tokyo Story - Criterion Collection ( DVD )
2 hours and 15 minutes long . Another Ozu masterpiece . Of the 3 films I've seen so far this is the saddest one ; and it feels like we've reached the end of a saga . Death closes this sequence of films : ' Late Spring ' , ' Early Summer ' and this one ; and writes a sad epitaph to life : life is sad and there's nothing we can do about it .
I didn't like it as much as the other two Ozu films mentioned , not because it's worse , but because it's pessimistic and leaves no room for hope ( which could be very accurate , however ) . The best advice we are left is resignation . Children will become parents , and then grandparents ; and probably they will be treated the same way they treated their own parents and grandparents before .
But do children really have to grow cold to their parents as they become older , or is there something we can do about it ? The youngest daughter asks this to Setsuko Hara ( daughter-in-law ) . She is pessimistic , times change everybody , and they will change too . But she herself is the living example that this is not so . She is not even a blood relative , however , she did more for the old couple than any relative . Setsuko Hara is the most positive and conservative character in Ozu's films . Times may change people's values and weaken human institutions , like the most basic one , families , but she will remain steadfast to those values inherited by generations down to the present . I would have preferred to see Setsuko in a happier mood , like in the other two films mentioned . I couldn't handle so much sadness .
013 4 2 hours and 15 minutes long . Another Ozu masterpiece . Of the 3 films I've seen so far this is the saddest one ; and it feels like we've reached the end of a saga . Death closes this sequence of films : ' Late Spring ' , ' Early Summer ' and this one ; and writes a sad epitaph to life : life is sad and there's nothing we can do about it .
I didn't like it as much as the other two Ozu films mentioned , not because it's worse , but because it's pessimistic and leaves no room for hope ( which could be very accurate , however ) . The best advice we are left is resignation . Children will become parents , and then grandparents ; and probably they will be treated the same way they treated their own parents and grandparents before .
But do children really have to grow cold to their parents as they become older , or is there something we can do about it ? The youngest daughter asks this to Setsuko Hara ( daughter-in-law ) . She is pessimistic , times change everybody , and they will change too . But she herself is the living example that this is not so . She is not even a blood relative , however , she did more for the old couple than any relative . Setsuko Hara is the most positive and conservative character in Ozu's films . Times may change people's values and weaken human institutions , like the most basic one , families , but she will remain steadfast to those values inherited by generations down to the present . I would have preferred to see Setsuko in a happier mood , like in the other two films mentioned . I couldn't handle so much sadness .
014 4 Yasujiro Ozu , known for his earlier works of cinema , Late Spring and Early Summer gave us a film which I consider his greatest masterpiece , Tokyo Story . Aside from the notable cinematic expression of the camera work that Ozu was known for in his films ; such as the low camera angles , what makes this masterpiece so profound to me is the simplicity of the film itself . And although his earlier aforementioned works also deal with simple themes , this film for me captures and encapsulates where the two previous films leave off : The impermanence of life . Many people I know have stated that this film is sterile and cold , and that it has no soul .
I tend to disagree . Yes , the film gives the viewer the simple life of a family . [ A common theme in Ozu's films ] However , unlike his earlier films , the impermanence of life is given full force in this film . Here we see a family that must come to turns with what we must all inevitably face in our own lives : The death of a loved one . And Ozu does not do this in the typical American fashion , but instead focuses on the long drawn out lives of this family in a soap opera like narrative , just as he did in Late Spring and Early Summer .
The film itself takes place in post-war Japan . And as with most of the films of Yasujiro Ozu , there are the usual Ozu cast of actors . We have the mother Tomi ( Chieko Higashiyama ) and father Shukishi ( Chishu Ryu ) . Living in the rural countryside , they decide to visit their children who reside in Tokyo . However , the children are indifferent to their parents visiting them and decide to send them away to a spa . Another Ozu regular : the beautiful Noriko , ( Setsuko Hara ) portrays the widowed daughter-in-law of Tomi and Shukishi . And it is Noriko who treats the elder Hirayama's with more compassion and love than their own children . It is not that the children are intentionally spiteful to their parents , they just feel as if a great burden is being placed on them by their parents visit .
This film is a simple , yet great masterpiece , weaving a story of the usual day to day activities of life , which will eventually create a tapestry of the cycle of life itself , when one of the parents becomes ill and dies . This impermanence of life that Ozu shows us is done by letting us glimpse the normal day to day life of both the children [ now adults ] and the parents who are now in old age . And this is what makes this film so great . We are given a snapshot of life , and yet the way Ozu is able to present the film makes the film much more profound and poignant than any American film-maker has ever done : For Ozu does not cop-out with a happy ending .
I first saw this film with my father in the early 1970 ' s at the now defunct Fox Theater in Venice , California . I was much younger then , and the film did not resonate with me at the time . Now that I am older , and wiser , I realized why my father loved this film so much . [ He died in 1978 ] . And whenever I view this film , it reminds me of him . When I watched the film again last night , I realized why my father loved this film as much as he did - - - it is a film that will move you deeply and emotionally . The film is both profound and sad . The children who feel inconvenienced by their parents later feel remorse when their mother Tomi is gravely ill .
It is only then that the children pay heed to her and rush back to their parents village to grieve for their mother Tomi . The children now truly realize how indifferent and non-emotional they were to their parents needs . This film is often referred to as a film about generational conflicts which in itself are universal and timeless . More importantly however , is that Tokyo Story allows us look at our own lives , and see our we relate to our loved ones here and now . I highly recommend this great film to everyone . [ Stars : 5 + ]
015 4 This 1953 Japanese film , a gaping hole in the knowledge of most film fans , is finally available with subtitles on DVD . It consistently appears on lists of the top 10 movies of all time , in the company of Citizen Kane , The Godfather , 2001 A Space Odyssey and Seven Samurai . It is about the inevitable transitory nature of family , portrayed with the sensitivity that is found only in works such as King Lear . It is a difficult film to start into , flagrantly delaying information needed to sort out the characters and their motivations , insisting that the viewer unwilling to invest undivided attention is unworthy of a thoroughly crafted and intelligent entertainment . It relies on subtle behavior nuances rather than dramatic action sequences . It refuses to manipulate , draw quick conclusions , succumb to sentimentality or imply polarizing judgments . However , after half the story has elapsed , an underlying omniscience begins to emerge , and a sense that a masterwork is in progress becomes pervasive . The cinematography , at first baffling for the artistically uninitiated , justifies itself as totally appropriate , reprising earlier shots to complete mood loops accessible to even the most desensitized viewer . The concluding dialogues precisely tie up the many loose ends and leaves one awestruck in a blinding flash of the obvious . This movie is rightly regarded as one of the best of the best of the best of all time .
016 4 Continually voted into the Sight and Sound poll as one of the top 10 films ever made , Tokyo Story is a great introduction to Ozu's work , and Japanese cinema entirely . Made in the 50 ' s , the film hasn't aged at all : it's a film for all generations .
The plot is very simple : An elderly couple visit their children , who are too busy to spend time with them . Their children continue to avoid them , purposely ( even sending them off to a spa at one point ) , until a death brings all of them together , but only temporarily . That's the plot . But what emerges is a very * human * film , as the strongest human emotions are displayed on screen , and suddenly you feel the same emotions , and start thinking about your own life and your relationship with your parents . Even though Ozu is labeled as the most Japanese director , the themes in Tokyo Story are universal . Ethnicity doesn't matter . Age doesn't matter either ; this movie makes an impact on adults as well as their children .
And Ozu does all of this rather effortlessly . Nothing in the plot seems to unfold by surprise ; things just happen . No fancy camera tricks either ; in fact , almost no camera movement at all . The camera moves only twice in this 2 + hour film . All of these factors contribute to the greatness of the film , a film that we can learn a lot from , and one that we can return to every couple of years . And it is all done in the simplest manner possible .
Criterion did a great job with the film . The film looks better than the VHS version , and the subtitles are easier to read . There's still a lot of grain and flickering , but one can only guess that the film itself was beyond major reparations . The commentary is informative ( You'll learn a lot about Ozu's meticulous planning in each scene ) , and the extras , such as a 2 hour documentary on Ozu's life and work , will only result in you wanting to see all of his films . Supposedly more are on the way from Criterion , so stay tuned .
017 4 As with every great work , the film has its own unique perfection in style , rhythm , details , and artist's vision - but Tokyo Story is very universal in its appeal - it is for every parent , every son or daughter - for everyone . It was made 50 years ago in Japan , about people who lived far away , but it is also about all of us , our families , our problems , our guilt and our search for love and meaning .
Ozu's film does not require one to be a movie buff or to try to solve complex symbolism to appreciate and love it . It brings smiles because it is a comedy ( for at least the first 2 / 3 ) and sadness with a high drama of the last 1 / 3 of the film .
Yasujiro Ozu's quiet and deceptively simple film tells a story of an elderly couple who travel to Tokyo to see their grown up children and their families - son , daughter and daughter-in-law who is a widow of their middle son that was killed during the World War II . Their children love them , of course but they are too busy with their own lives and jobs to spend much time with them . Their young grandchildren don't know them and not too eager to try to know their grandparents better . Only the widowed daughter-in-law is the one who is really happy with their arrival and tries to make their visit pleasurable . After parents return home , children receive a telegram with the sad news that the mother became critically ill . Now it is their turn to make a journey .
Ozu does not judge anybody , but beneath the quiet politeness , smiles , and soft voices there is a sad , inevitable , and powerful alienation of generations in the modern world of big cities . The simple family melodrama has been told with intensity , humanity , and honesty of character .
P.S . The first thing I wanted to do after I finished watching this film was to pick up the phone and call my mom . Just to hear her voice .
018 4 Everyone who watches this film seems , inevitablly , to reflect on their own family . It is a great tribute to Ozu that we take his films to heart and relate them to ourselves . I have seldom been effected , myself , in such a way by a movie .
Technically , it is such a well made , unconventional , film . The low camera angles , steady unmoving camera , and fine acting of Ozu's films have been much talked about .
This is one of the Criterion dvd's that is worth every penny - even at $40 ( the price I paid ) . To purchase a film that effects you in such a personal way - well , the price is really no issue - you should buy this movie and watch it !
019 4 David Desser's illuminating audio commentary opens the film up in new ways , allowing the viewer to understand Ozu's deceptively simple style with greater depth and appreciation . Demonstrating Ozu's mastery with imagery in scene after scene , Dessler describes how Ozu builds subtle dimensions of emotional and thematic subtext using camera placement , movement and editing of shots . What may seem rather ordinary at first sudddenly becomes breathtaking and you'll marvel at Ozu's sheer economy of storytelling . Truly , Tokyo Story is a thing of beauty and this disc will show you why . One of Criterion's finest disc sets , and that's saying alot .
020 4 As a fan of Asian cinema , I'm ashamed to admit I've gone this long without seeing one Ozu film . But finally the wait for me is over , and I've had the pleasure of watching A Tokyo Story . What can I say about it that hasn't already been said a thousand times over by other reviewers ?
The plot is well known enough : an elderly couple plan a trip to Tokyo only to find themselves more of a burden than a pleasure to be with their selfish children . Their son , a neighborhood doctor , has patients to care for , and their daughter , a beautician , would rather work than entertain her family .
It's a simple enough plot that if made today would have probably escalated into a dramatic scene of a family pitted against each other , telling the wrongs of one another . But nothing of the sort happens . Instead what we get is a resignation to indifferences , and the acceptance of the idea that it could be worse . . . .
Plot aside , there are some beautiful scenes in this movie . One of the elderly couple sitting together , facing the sea , two people all alone in a large world . All of the shots of the caring daughter in law are breathtaking . She's a beautiful woman on the inside , and I think Ozu highlighted this fact with every scene that she was in . She smiles for her in laws , but when they turn away she's on the verge of tears , overwhelmed by her own misguided guilt .
Tokyo Story is a slow moving film , but many things develop in that time . It's a true to life tale , where some don't realize how good they are , while others never learn to think beyond their own desires .
021 4 Yasujiro Ozu had directed films from late 1920 ' s to 1962 . But he hit his stride with Tokyo Story . Ozu movies are about the lower or middle classes , their interior lives in a very crowded and small country . This film has been ranked by various film organizations as one of the best ten movies ever made . It is a snapshot of the aspiring middle class of Japan in 1953 . The war is fading and the post-war miracle is in the making . The young Japanese are striving and materialistic , but it should be said , they live in a very small world indeed . Their houses , even the house of the doctor-son is tiny and everyone sits on the floor , there are no chairs . The elderly parents representing the old Japan visit their two sons and daughter in a rebuilding , industrialized Tokyo . The parents are not welcomed warmly , but are shuttled off to a resort . Only the daughter-in-law welcomes them . Her husband had been killed in the war and she honors his memory by honoring her in-laws . Then the mother dies and the kids go to the funeral and then get back to work . All the scenes of family life take place in tiny interiors where there are for example , close up shots of two kimonoed women talking intimately with much politeness . The exterior shots contrast an industrial world of smokestacks with the beauty of the Japanese mountains and seacoast . The camera angles are very precise . The actors are unbelievably good . If you are looking for plot , you won't find much here , but you will find a studied slice of life . This movie is long and in black and white . It does not move quickly and you must stay with it to take in something different .
022 4 This review is from :
Tokyo Story - Criterion Collection ( DVD )
This is an excellent movie but not because it is any sort of a blockbuster motion picture nor because it is a cerebral exploration into one's inner self . It is is excellent because it tells a meaningful story in a very simplistic manner . A retired Japanese couple decide to go to the Big City to visit their adult children . This is a big event , something they apparently have not done for a long time , if ever . Their experiences , once they get to their destination , are disappointing . Their children seem to mean well but it is obvious that mom and dad are in the way . This seems to be more obvious to the viewers than to mom and dad who seem content with the little attention that they get . There is a tragic ending to the story but the real tragedy has already manifested itself before then .
The movie touches us because it hits so close to home ( literally ) . This COULD be us in any of the roles we see . Are we the son who is too busy to take the time to be with his parents ? Are we the daughter who wishes they would just visit and leave without staying so long ? Are we the son who worries more about how the parents visit will disrupt his life than how he can make their visit enjoyable ? Are we the daughter-in-law who can't do enough to entertain them ( don't we wish we are ) ? Or are we the parents who raised these children who are too blind ( or is it polite ) to realize what we have created ( the song Cat's in the Cradle comes to mind ) .
The acting in this movie is exceptional because it makes us feel that we really are looking into the lives of an actual family . Nothing is over-stated nor under-stated , it just seems to happen . I wondered how I would have appreciated this movie if I hadn't known of its excellent rating ( one of Sight and Sound ' s top ten of all-time greatest movies ) . To be honest , I doubt I would have even had the opportunity to see it . However , I think that it would have touched me just as sincerely as it did . This is a movie worth seeing by anyone who doesn't mind reading subtitles in order to discover a bitter-sweet story about their own lives .
023 4 This is an excellent movie but not because it is any sort of a blockbuster motion picture nor because it is a cerebral exploration into one's inner self . It is is excellent because it tells a meaningful story in a very simplistic manner . A retired Japanese couple decide to go to the Big City to visit their adult children . This is a big event , something they apparently have not done for a long time , if ever . Their experiences , once they get to their destination , are disappointing . Their children seem to mean well but it is obvious that mom and dad are in the way . This seems to be more obvious to the viewers than to mom and dad who seem content with the little attention that they get . There is a tragic ending to the story but the real tragedy has already manifested itself before then .
The movie touches us because it hits so close to home ( literally ) . This COULD be us in any of the roles we see . Are we the son who is too busy to take the time to be with his parents ? Are we the daughter who wishes they would just visit and leave without staying so long ? Are we the son who worries more about how the parents visit will disrupt his life than how he can make their visit enjoyable ? Are we the daughter-in-law who can't do enough to entertain them ( don't we wish we are ) ? Or are we the parents who raised these children who are too blind ( or is it polite ) to realize what we have created ( the song Cat's in the Cradle comes to mind ) .
The acting in this movie is exceptional because it makes us feel that we really are looking into the lives of an actual family . Nothing is over-stated nor under-stated , it just seems to happen . I wondered how I would have appreciated this movie if I hadn't known of its excellent rating ( one of Sight and Sound ' s top ten of all-time greatest movies ) . To be honest , I doubt I would have even had the opportunity to see it . However , I think that it would have touched me just as sincerely as it did . This is a movie worth seeing by anyone who doesn't mind reading subtitles in order to discover a bitter-sweet story about their own lives .
024 4 I have only recently begun exploring some of the works of the eminent Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu , and while I was able to appreciate the greatness of FLOATING WEEDS , it is his TOKYO STORY that I will remember more . Plotwise , Ozu offers more a scenario than an actual story : two elderly parents go to Tokyo to visit their children , who do not necessarily welcome them warmly . From that simple scenario , though , Ozu creates scenes that say so little and yet say so much about familial relations . That is the power of his minimalist style : a lot is left unsaid among the characters , but many things are implied , and of course it is left to the viewer to pick up on the implications and perhaps reflect on them . ( The parents ' children , for example , all feel exasperation at what they see as their burden when their parents arrive , but only Noriko , the widow of one of their dead sons , is truly nice to them . Obviously that says something about the others . . . )
Watching TOKYO STORY , I felt like I was in the presence of a wise old man who I felt could teach me , in his own silent way , a lot of things about life , especially when I eventually grow up ( I am only eighteen myself ) and perhaps run into these same situations that Ozu illustrates in this film . Perhaps people might react differently to this film - - - older people might identify with the situations , while younger ones might react in a more objective but fascinated manner . Either way , I don't think anyone who chances upon this wonderful film will not be moved in some way . What you see with every shot and every image in TOKYO STORY is life - - - plain and simple . It's so realistic it's haunting .
025 4 Tokyo Story is universal in theme , the aging parents and their relationship to their grown children . In post war Japan , an old couple make a visit to their children in Tokyo . Upon arrival , the elderly are soon ignored , shuffled here and there , while simply , a burden during their visit . The old couple are compliant to their childrens ' distant attention and being shuffled around .
Although the elderly couple know their childrens ' careers are not as successful as the couple would like , but as the parents , they accept that , knowing at this time in their lives , only family and love matters . Even a doctor is in the family , and we don't see him as successful .
The couple has learned that time changes , tradition changes and relationships change , so they can understand the grandchildren's cold feelings with no endearing reactions . Sadly , Tomi , the old lady never experienced love that comes from grandchildren like most people and she says , Some people like their grandchildren more than their children . . . . I like my children more .
The only love and attention they get is from a daughter-in-law , Noriko , who was married to their son who is now dead . Soon , the couple heads back home and mother Tomi gets sick .
Criterion Package
To have Criterion present a classic film , you know there are plenty of extras along with the DVD film itself . Also , while many of Criterion's film releases are in black and white , the English subtitles often pose a challenge to read .
But with Criterion , you get great features , sometimes great commentary , documentaries , deleted scenes , interviews , and more ! In Tokyo Story double disc , the commentary is excellent as it follows the movie . We see and learn a great deal about Ozua and his film style from this commentary that is exclusive to the movie .
A 40 minute tribute to Ozu is included along with a two-hour documentary on Ozu provides detailed information about the director and his style . What's also great is that you get a snippet of many of his other films and his low angle camera style . Ozu's scenes are like none I have seen before . The Japanese characters always getting up and down from the floor , and are leaving and entering frames and you soon notice it to be unique filming .
Watching Tokyo Story has it's demands , many Japanese characters are introduced , so you must pay attention to know the characters ' names and their relationships , while reading . Tokyo Story remains on the list of best in foreign film . Its message will never become dated . . . . MzRizz
026 4 One of the greatest movie masterpieces , it's all about how people get so wrapped up in themselves they have no time for those who should matter the most ; it's another example of that famous song about always hurting the one's you love , in this case , children hurting their parents . An elderly couple go to Tokyo by train on a rare visit to their children ; when they get there they realize their children really don't have the time or interest to be with them . Only a widowed daughter-in-law shows them any genuine kindness .
What makes this a truly great movie is the subtlety of all the action : the children aren't blatantly mean , just wrapped up in their own lives and self-centered . They talk as if they care , but the real feelings of concern aren't there . They send their parents to a seaside resort and rationalize it as the chance for them to rest , see something different , have a good time , but really they send them there just to get them off their hands . Though subtly executed , it's an acute indictment against not only ungrateful children but against indifference in general , and it will be a rare viewer , I think , who doesn't feel the pangs of that reproach personally . The dignity and grace of the elderly couple ( played brilliantly by Chishu Ryu and Chieko Higashiyama ) through all this is magnificently displayed - and it's heartbreaking to watch . Their children are an obvious disappointment to them , yet they treat them with dignity and respect - much more than they deserve . It's a movie not to be forgotten once seen .
027 4 I am sitting in front of this screen failing to get a purchase on what it is I want to say about this film - my flimsy adjectives and superlatives are hopelessly inadequate . If it was just the artistic quality of the filmaking I would be fine ; able to use words like , luminous , exquisite , perfect , genius . But it's the fact that all of this is in the service of something infinitely more overwhelming that leaves me speechless . For Catholics amongst you all I can say is that it is a little bit like a cinematic equivalent of the life of St Thérèse of Lisieux : small and hidden things , done with great love .
Most all of the time I agree with Hitchcock's wonderfully affirming and unpretentious , Some film makers make movies that are like a slice of life - I make movies that are like a slice of cake . Afterall , an awful lot of cinema , ( hell , an awful lot of everything ! ) is dismally self-important and self-satisfied . However , there are few works of art that bear witness to the transfiguration of our small lives by love with as much truthful beauty as Ozu's Tokyo Story . The actress who plays the daughter-in-law in the film , Setsuko Hara , gave up acting a few years later and went into solitude and prayer in the buddhist town of Kamakura . She is still there today . As the dear mother says at one moment in the film , giving thanks quite simply for the day's good weather , it is a blessing . And so it is .
028 4 Tokyo Story
The only other Ozu movie I have seen is The Story of Floating Weeds ( the silent era one ) , and I didn't like it very much . I ended up blind-buying the Criterion Tokyo Story from my work because it had just been sold back used and with my employee discount it came to $15 ( Le Cercle Rouge was also sold back , also $15 ) . I didn't know if I'd like it but if I didn't I knew a LOT of people who would be willing to pay me the fifteen dollars I spent to get their hands on it , so it was all good .
However , that will be unnecessary . I ended up loving just about every minute of it . I don't know quite what was different about Ozu's style this time around as opposed to Story of Floating Weeds , but I think it has something to do with it being sound-era and not having all those intertitles disrupting everything . Story of Floating Weeds was rather dialog-heavy for a silent era film , and it seems that Ozu's particular style is pretty much dialog heavy anyway , so he just works better in the sound era . That said , half the time I forgot the dialog seconds after reading it but never felt like I needed it . Even though this movie is basically people sitting around talking for two hours and fifteen minutes ( with a death put in for good effect ) , it was a very pleasant visual experience .
The whole low-angle static camera approach worked better than I ever thought possible , being a Western film student and all . I was sitting on the floor eating while I was watching it , and the angle with the television was spot on with the angles in the film , so I felt like I was either sitting around watching all of this unfold or was a little kid again watching it unfold . The best part was that I've already read all that stuff about Ozu and family , and he gets it spot on . I felt like I was at another one of my family's reunions , where everyone's happy to see each other and all but different levels of business and energy just eventually tire everyone out .
Also , Ozu's quiet , methodical approach to building a quiet , almost listless world is very peaceful and alluring . With only two shots in the entire film with a moving camera , everything felt wonderfully zen ( though I wouldn't label Ozu a Buddhist . His importance of family motif is a bit too worldly for Buddhists ) . A definite beingness pronounced the film and helped it be more than just a slide show of a family reunion .
5 stars .
- - PolarisDiB
029 4 In the last ten years , the reputation of Tokyo Story was incredibly growing until it is at the moment probably the most famous japanese film . Beside the fact that Ozu made at least ten films of the quality of Tokyo Story , this film suffered among his late films most through the bad material of the survived prints . It was neccesary to restore it . But I have my doubts in the bonus material . The film I have lived , but about Ozu is quite stupid , full of cliches and I don't understand why this documentary was chosen for this DVD . The other documentary , TALKING WITH OZU is a little jewel . 8 filmmakers are talking about Ozu . The most touching interview is the one with Hongkong filmmaker Stanley Kwan .
030 4 I agree with the positive reviewers who have taken such great and personal pleasure in this movie . Ozu's style indeed seems restrained to 21st century American audiences , used to quick cuts and characters who can be summed up by their catch phrases .
Here instead we are in a world more like a Jane Austen novel , focused on a few isolated characters and how they interact with each other . Only slowly do you realize the disappointment the central couple has in their adult children . The restraint of their emotions and the style of the film is what makes the viewer's increasing emotional awareness so much more powerful . Ozu shows how people can outwardly meet all societal expectations and obligations and yet remain oblivious to the needs of those they should be close to and real with .
It's curious how other reviewers draw the moral that we all should , as Pete Seeger used to sing , be kind to your parents , though they don't deserve it . This is a recurring theme with Ozu , what adult children owe their parents . I have had so many friends have parents visit from out of town and treat that visit with a kind of dread . So many of us think of family as being like fish - - starts to go bad after three days .
Let's not forget that many of Ozu's films turn on the theme of parents pushing their adult children to live their own lives and stop making sacrifices for the parents .
If only there was an American Ozu to make a version of this movie about our contemporary culture . It would never be from the point of the view of the older people . I think that is part of the loss that people sense watching this movie - - that we have lost something ourselves by closing ourselves off from our parents , whatever our reasons might be .
031 4 Tokyo Story ( Yasujiro Ozu , 1953 )
It says something - - though I'm not sure what - - about my culture that IMDB's if you liked this you'll like . . . recommendations for Tokyo Monogatari include The Grudge and Spider-Man 2 . Whatever it says , I'm pretty sure it's not good . For Tokyo Monogatari is an entirely different film , not in the same genre - - not even in the same ballpark , or for that matter the same zip code - - as those movies . Perhaps not even the same planet . Action ? Terror ? Attractive if vapid soul-searching protagonist ? Escapism ? Hardly .
Tokyo Monogatari is the story of an elderly rural couple ( Chishu Ryu and Cheiko Higashiyama ) who go to visit their children in Tokyo . Their children have no time for them and , with the awkwardness into which everyone is spun by the parents ' arrival , ship them off to the hot springs . While they are there , the wife takes ill , and the couple return home ; in a reversal of the original premise , the second act has the children rushing to the couple's rural home , berating themselves and each other over their not making time for their parents .
This is an exceptionally slow film , and that is not helped by the fact that there are parts of it that are quite uncomfortable to watch - - not because they tread on delicate subject matter or anything like that , but because Ozu and Noda's script recreates the kind of quotidian dialogue one hears in real life in vivid detail . Note that I'm not talking about the sort of brilliant rapidfire banter that one gets from , say , a Tarantino script , but the endless , annoying small talk that people make just to pass the time . There are a lot of people who don't like this movie - - who detest it , really - - because of this . And , yes , it makes the first half-hour of the film hard to suffer through . But that's the point of it . Ozu is introducing us to shallow characters , and the characters who actually have some sort of life are reduced to talking to them on their level . Once you get to the climax of the film , it all makes sense , as the true shallowness of some of these characters is revealed . In the interim , however , we are treated to characters that are drawn in exquisite detail , with Ryu's especially becoming deeper and deeper as we see more facets of the person he is ( and how those facets grate , of course , on the shallow people around him ) .
Film historians debate - - idly , of course - - whether Kurosawa or Ozu was the definitive postwar Japanese director . It's an impossible debate , given that both of them stand head and shoulders above everything else Japan was doing at the time ( and , for that matter , most of what the rest of the world was doing ) . I tend to see them more as complementary ; Kurosawa's big , bold action films stand beside Ozu's quiet , contemplative pieces to provide a coherent , and brilliant , whole . This , perhaps Ozu's strongest outing , is a perfect complement to something like Yojimbo . * * * * ½
032 4 At the film festival where I watched this film , almost half the audience got up and walked out long before the end - that will tell you that it is not a film that will have mass appeal , especially if you take into account that film festival audiences are normally more into art films than the normal filmgoing public . Nevertheless , it is a beautiful movie , which will richly reward those with the patience to carefully consider what is happening and what is being said .
An elderly Japanese couple living in a rural town decides to visit their children in Tokyo . There is the doctor Koichi , the hairdresser Shige and their daughter-in-law Noriko , who works as a lowly clerk in an administrative office . She was married to their son who was killed eight years before during World War Two . On the way to Tokyo they stop at Osaka station , where they meet up with their other son . The old couple is not really welcome in Tokyo , Koichi and Shige being far too busy with their own lives to sacrifice time to spend with them . The cramped space in the Tokyo apartments also means that it is quite uncomfortable for them . Only Noriko gives up her time and specially takes off from work to show them around . She goes out of her way to make them feel welcome . The children send the old couple off to a spa to get rid of them . The spa does not cater for their more sedate lifestyle and they decide to go back home . Upon returning to Tokyo unexpectedly , they find that their children cannot put them up for the night and they are forced to split , the mother staying with Noriko and the father forced to look up some old friends from his village now staying in Tokyo . On the way back home , the mother falls ill and she has a stroke upon her arrival back home . The children has to hurry if they still want to see her before she dies , forcing them to look into their priorities to decide how they will handle this new development .
So far the storyline . Not much outward action , with the action ( feelings and emotions ) happening within the characters . The major clue the viewer get is through the scene setting and the words and being Japanese , they are polite to a fault . It is only once you put yourself into the shoes of the characters that the emotional force hits you and the understatement actually adds to the impact . This is aided beautifully by the scene setting . In one scene , when the old couple realises that they have to make alternate arrangements to spend the night , they are sitting on the sidewalk eating their lunch ( like hobos would , but still in the dignified manner they portray throughout the film ) , and the father says : Now we are really homeless . This is just one example of how the setting and the words complement each other .
The film has a lot going for it . It is an in-depth study of ordinary people in an ordinary family and their lives , frustrations , ambitions and relationships . It examines how people are so preoccupied with what is happening in their own small worlds that they lose sight of what is really important in life . It sheds light not only on the parent-child relationship , but is also very insighful in its portrayal of the relationship between the mother and father . Whilst they are clearly happy together , there is just the hint of their past and present relational problems and a subtle reminder of the need to cherish that which is precious , especially if it is not everlasting . It is enlightening about Japanese culture , manners and way of doing things and it sheds a great deal of light on that nation's psyche after World War Two . The generally polite and reserved nature of conversation is only sometimes breached , always with significant impact , as when the mother opens up her heart to Noriko ( I am a burden to everyone ) or when at the end Noriko opens up her heart to her father-in-law about her desires . Because this happens out of culture and is a rare portrayal of intimacy , the impact is enhanced .
A beautiful film then , which can be regarded as a true classic . Why only four and not five stars ? The subtitles were a little disappointing . Whilst I do not know Japanese , the subtitles sometimes seemed clumsy and not as refined as one would expect , which was out of step with the general sophisticated feel of the film ( It is such a privilege to sleep in my dead son's bed is one example ) . I suspect that the translators did not always capture the essence of the meaning , rather concentrating on a literal translation . Often there is conversation with no subtitles - whilst one suspect that it is mundane conversation such as thank you or good morning , it is disconcerting to hear people talking and not see the subtitles . Towards the end , with the essential messages already delivered , the film then dragged on a bit , with no new insights being added - bearing in mind it is already slow-moving .
A wonderful film , thoroughly recommended - but not everybody's cup of tea .
033 4 Tokyo Story is the best-known film in the West by Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu , whose depictions of everyday life in post-war Japan earned him a reputation as the poet of the quotidian . Here he explores the inevitability of change , the generational conflicts that it engenders , and life's inherent disappointments through the experiences of an older couple who journey from their sleepy seaside town to bustling Tokyo to visit their two eldest children . Tomi ( Chieko Higashiyama ) and Shukishi Hirayama ( Chishu Ryu ) look forward to seeing their children , grandchildren , and the big city , but their son Koichi ( So Yamamura ) , a health clinic doctor , is too busy to show them around . And their daughter Shige ( Haruku Sugimara ) resents being inconvenienced by their visit . Only Noriko ( Setsuko Hara ) , their lonely widowed daughter-in-law , appreciates the couple's company .
Made in 1953 , Tokyo Story is fascinating in retrospect for its documentation of life in post-war Japan , characterized by rapid change and 6 - day work weeks that created the prosperity that Japanese now enjoy . The film has many narrative ellipses , where it skips events or action , but it lingers on seemingly trivial facets of daily life . The camera is usually static , often at floor-mat level even after the characters stand . I found the lower-than-usual perspective and the tendency of characters to come and go from the frame a nice change from conventional camera placement . Tokyo Story has a measured , slow pace , which I associate with a certain style of Japanese film . It takes patience until I get used to it , but after a while I fell into this film's metronomic rhythm . The film's pace is a large part of its poetry .
Setsuko Hara , a huge star in Japan at the time , is radiant and naturally sympathetic . The children-in-law are more conscious of treating their elders well than their own children are . But Shige seems a tad too vilified and Noriko too sanctified for modern sensibilities . Ultimately Tokyo Story embraces the inevitability of its characters ' relationships , though , and isn't judgmental . Blaming the characters would undercut Ozu's premise that times and people change , and nothing lives up to expectations . This print ( Criterion Collection 2003 ) has minor specks and scratches . An audio commentary by David Desser , who edited a book about this film , is rehearsed and informative . He discusses the film's themes and provides a scene-by-scene analysis of composition . The film is in Japanese with optional English subtitles in white , which would have been better in yellow .
034 4 This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film .
Tokyo Story released in japan as Tokyo Monogatari is a very nice look at Japan in the early postwar years . .
In the film , an elderly couple living in the country visit their children in the city . Unfortunately their children have other plans and are too busy to be with them . The father subsequently gets sick and they go home .
This film is one of the most popular Japanese film ever made and is very worthy of a release on the Criterion Collection .
The DVD has some excellent special features too .
Dice one contains the film with optional audio commentary by David Desser . it also has a theatrical trailer .
Disc two has two documentaries about the director Yasujiro Ozu .
Talking with Ozu is a collection of tributes by various filmmakers in celebration of the 90th anniversery of Ozu's birth . The persons giving the tributes are : Stanley Kwan , Aki Kaurismäki , Claire Denis , Lindsay Anderson , Paul Schrader , Wim Wenders , and Hou Hsiao-Hsien . The other documentary is I lived but . . . the title is a variation of the titles of some of Ozu's films . It included interviews with Shomei Imamura , Donald Richie , Tadao Sato , Chisu Ryu , Mariko Okada , and many others .
This release is one that all Ozu fans should watch .
035 4 Ozu's 1953 Tokyo Story is about as perfect as any film ever made . It's a veritable masterpiece of cinema . If only twenty films of the past 100 years could be saved for the future , then Tokyo Story must be one of them .
There's too many reasons why this film is so wonderful for me to go into here . Others are more up to the task of explaining its many little touches and charms . I will only say that this is a wonderfully warm , human , touching story filmed as good as any movie ever made . This one is definately up there !
The DVD isn't as clean a transfer as with others of the Criterion Collection , and I assume it's because the original negative is unusable or lost ? Perhaps this is the best print to have survived ? It's hard to say . The soundtrack is in mono and the film is presented in a fullscreen 1.33 : 1 aspect-ratio in true black white . There's a great commentary track to listen to as well , and with all of Ozu's films I would strongly suggest listening to the commentaries to fully understand and appreciate the brilliant film methods of Ozu the master .
What's not to love about Tokyo Story ? The characters are so real and so complex , just like we are . The story is always believable and never over-melodramatic like a bad Disney film . The emotions we feel are sincere ones and Tokyo Story doesn't make demands on our emotional reaction to the film , but rather we slowly find ourselves volunteering our emotional reactions freely . That is the mark of a brilliant film .
036 4 This review is from :
Tokyo Story - Criterion Collection ( DVD )
Tokyo Story ( 1953 ) by Yasujiro Ozu is about the serene acceptance of the transience of life through a contemplative , compassionate love of the now . Perhaps inspired by the 1937 American film
Make Way for Tomorrow ( Criterion Collection )
, Ozu crafts a film that utilizes Japanese aesthetic sensibilities which resonate at the same time with universal themes beginning concretely with family life among 3 generations in early 1950s Japan that then open out and blossom forth to encompass the transcendent mystery in the most immanent of things . One is reminded of William Blake's lines from the Auguries of Innocence : To see a world in a grain of sand , And a heaven in a wild flower ; Hold infinity in the palm of your hand , And an eternity in an hour . Ozu is widely seen by critics worldwide as one of the great Japanese directors along with Kurosawa and Mizoguchi , and this film as his greatest among the 54 films that he made from 1927 to his 1962
An Autumn Afternoon - Criterion Collection
. Two other Ozu classics are
Late Spring - Criterion Collection
and the 1959
Stories of Floating Weeds ( A Story of Floating Weeds ( 1934 ) / Floating Weeds ( 1959 ) ) - Criterion Collection
; the latter has Roger Ebert speaking his cogent , insightful audio commentary - - Wow ! Donald Richie , who was a pioneer in bringing Ozu and Kurosawa to the attention of the West , has written
Ozu : His Life and Films
as well as translated the screenplay of
Tokyo Story : The Ozu / Noda Screenplay
. David Desser has edited a wonderful collection of essays about
Ozu's Tokyo Story ( Cambridge Film Handbooks )
, and Paul Schrader's 1972
Transcendental Style In Film ( Da Capo Paperback )
about Ozu , Robert Bresson , and Carl Dreyer continues to show us the value of a contemplative transcendental style of filmmaking that is all too rarely seen in films of today .
Tokyo Story is my 2nd favorite film after Kurosawa's
Ikiru - Criterion Collection
. We are indeed most fortunate that since 2003 the Criterion Collection not only has restored all of the films mentioned in this review onto DVD , but also has included insightful written essays , audio commentaries , and bonus films with the DVDs . I for one feel most grateful for Criterion's dedication in bringing to us these treasures of world cinema so that they will not be forgotten , but may be experienced by all now .
037 4 Tokyo Story ( 1953 ) by Yasujiro Ozu is about the serene acceptance of the transience of life through a contemplative , compassionate love of the now . Perhaps inspired by the 1937 American film
Make Way for Tomorrow ( Criterion Collection )
, Ozu crafts a film that utilizes Japanese aesthetic sensibilities which resonate at the same time with universal themes beginning concretely with family life among 3 generations in early 1950s Japan that then open out and blossom forth to encompass the transcendent mystery in the most immanent of things . One is reminded of William Blake's lines from the Auguries of Innocence : To see a world in a grain of sand , And a heaven in a wild flower ; Hold infinity in the palm of your hand , And an eternity in an hour . Ozu is widely seen by critics worldwide as one of the great Japanese directors along with Kurosawa and Mizoguchi , and this film as his greatest among the 54 films that he made from 1927 to his 1962
An Autumn Afternoon - Criterion Collection
. Two other Ozu classics are
Late Spring - Criterion Collection
and the 1959
Stories of Floating Weeds ( A Story of Floating Weeds ( 1934 ) / Floating Weeds ( 1959 ) ) - Criterion Collection
; the latter has Roger Ebert speaking his cogent , insightful audio commentary - - Wow ! Donald Richie , who was a pioneer in bringing Ozu and Kurosawa to the attention of the West , has written
Ozu : His Life and Films
as well as translated the screenplay of
Tokyo Story : The Ozu / Noda Screenplay
. David Desser has edited a wonderful collection of essays about
Ozu's Tokyo Story ( Cambridge Film Handbooks )
, and Paul Schrader's 1972
Transcendental Style In Film ( Da Capo Paperback )
about Ozu , Robert Bresson , and Carl Dreyer continues to show us the value of a contemplative transcendental style of filmmaking that is all too rarely seen in films of today .
Tokyo Story is my 2nd favorite film after Kurosawa's
Ikiru - Criterion Collection
. We are indeed most fortunate that since 2003 the Criterion Collection not only has restored all of the films mentioned in this review onto DVD , but also has included insightful written essays , audio commentaries , and bonus films with the DVDs . I for one feel most grateful for Criterion's dedication in bringing to us these treasures of world cinema so that they will not be forgotten , but may be experienced by all now .
038 4 An elderly couple are excited to make the long trip to visit their grown children in Tokyo ; once there , however , they find the children are too busy to spend time with them .
This is a lovely and touching movie from the acclaimed director Yasujiro Ozu . His specialty was observing familial relationships and the ordinary day-to-day life of post-war Japan . In Tokyo Story , we see a couple who love their children and patiently and philosophically forgive them for their rudeness . The circle of life and the real personalities of all the characters make for a poignant story .
It moves slowly and may be too long , but the result is an unforgettable glimpse into another time and place . In Japanese with English subtitles . Recommended .
039 4 This review is from :
Tokyo Story - Criterion Collection ( DVD )
As noted elsewhere , Tokyo Story is about family dynamics . Almost anyone who views this movie will identify with someone in the movie , with all the character's flaws . The movie unfolds in a very deliberate and subtle manner . Simple everyday acts accumulate which , like all of our lives , result in choices , sometimes less than ideal ones , being made . While this movie is sad , so is our existence ( which must inevitably end ) . Still , life must go on ; we must persevere because we are connected .
Only problem with this DVD is its sometimes inadequate sound .
040 4 As noted elsewhere , Tokyo Story is about family dynamics . Almost anyone who views this movie will identify with someone in the movie , with all the character's flaws . The movie unfolds in a very deliberate and subtle manner . Simple everyday acts accumulate which , like all of our lives , result in choices , sometimes less than ideal ones , being made . While this movie is sad , so is our existence ( which must inevitably end ) . Still , life must go on ; we must persevere because we are connected .
Only problem with this DVD is its sometimes inadequate sound .
041 4 This review is from :
Tokyo Story - Criterion Collection ( DVD )
Nothing equals seeing the intelligent , beautiful face of Setsuko Hara as the kind heroine . It almost restores one's childhood faith in the future of humanity !
042 4 Nothing equals seeing the intelligent , beautiful face of Setsuko Hara as the kind heroine . It almost restores one's childhood faith in the future of humanity !
044 4 First at all , I should remark this is a milestone film in the history of cinema , and according the British Film Institute one of the five greatest films ever made .
The poetic intensity of this overpowering movie transcends by far any egregious epithet . A deeply , poignant and touching drama about an elderly couple who travels to Tokyo , where they are unenthusiastically received by his children .
But it's such the narrative power and the unforgettable shots along this masterpiece , that you will be engaged from start to finish .
I politely invite you to acquire this memorable masterwork , and once you have watched you will necessarily include among the milestone films ever seen through your existence .
The cast , the emotive and tender scenes ( the grandmother and her unworried grandson picking up flowers , is a true landmark sequence ) , the multiple issues around a new generation with lack of personality , enthusiasm permeated by an absolute indifference , is just a part of this artful script , whose nostalgic gaze about an emerging Tokyo from the ashes of the WW2 will spell you .
An immortal masterpiece and one of my top twenty films ever made .
045 4 If you've never seen an Ozu movie , prepare for a unique experience . A seemingly meager plot , very little fancy cinematography , black and white format and subdued acting by the cast all add up to one of the great artistic achievements in movie making . If that were not enough , actress Setsuko Hara turns in a magnificent performance . Those who wish to experience Japanese cinema other than samurai flicks should start with this masterpiece , especially the Criterion Collection version with the English commentary .
046 4 This film is simply gorgeous . No words can describe its artistic value , its importance and impact that it can have on a human being , and its ability to transcend not only film genres , but also race , culture , and ethnicity . The film is mandatory viewing for any human being . It may not only be the greatest film ever made ; even better than epics and masterpieces by Kurosawa , Mizoguchi and Bergman , but also the highest form of art known to man . This is not hype , this film is awe-inspiring !
047 4 Ozu's grave is marked by the Buddhist symbol Mu or nothingness .
We can look at many of Ozu's films as extended sighs that express the fleeting , disappointing nature of life . I love Ozu and his static camera , and his revelation of a changing post-war Japan , with the attendant upheaval of social norms , the changeing relationships between parents and siblings , and the loss of the family that prefigures the ultimate loss . . . that of death . Tokyo Story shows us all of this so exquisitely , painfully .
Ozu's Tokyo Story is conceived with an immaculate presentation of everyday detritus from teapots to tatami , people inhabiting rooms then disappearing : the codas of laundry lines or train stations or empty rooms expressing this Mu that lies before and after this life .
Ozu's sigh is so beautiful , so truthful , we've all felt his films as truth in our own lives .
I embrace his deep humanity , and feel lucky to have experienced his films .
048 4 Several years ago Tokyo Story topped the list of 1000 Greatest Films as ranked by Halliwell's . It certainly belongs on the list , but #1 ? Apparently , the stationary floor-level camera , doorway and hallway framings , underplayed acting of the old couple , snail's-pace plot movement , violation of the 180 degree sightline have all contributed to the cult-like following the film has attracted .
It's enjoyable , moving , and cinematically satisfying : compared to the constant stream of action , shock editing , and shrill noise of most present-day American movies , Tokyo Story is like a necklace composed of visual haikus , each shot worthy of being savored by the discerning reviewer . But the stillness , however poignant , doesn't hold enough music for me - - that lyrical and rhapsodic dimension of film that plays not only in the soundtrack but is made visible by the lyrical movement of the camera as well . The most memorable films are also the most melodramatic - - a balance of sight and sound , the visual and the aural , the spatial and the temporal . The greatest films not only expose loss but restore it through the fullness of music .
Among Japanese films , the one that comes closest to the melodramatic , or drama + music , standard is Kinoshita's 24 - Eyes , a 1954 film that's as operatic as it is cinematic , permitting a richness of expression in time that compensates for the elegiac sadness that accumulates with the passage of the years from pre-war to post WWII Japan . But there's also a 1930s American film which , since first seeing it 1979 , I've been unable to locate . Entitled Make Way for Tomorrow , it's a movie with a storyline identical to that of Tokyo Story . In fact , it's the film that inspired Ozu to make his Japanese version , not the first time the Japanese have demonstrated their good taste and undeniable invention in borrowing from another culture .
049 4 This review is from :
Tokyo Story - Criterion Collection ( DVD )
This movie begins simply enough with the elderly couple Shukichi and Tomi arriving in Tokyo to see their collective children and grandchildren whom they have not seen for a number of years . At first it seems like everything is going well . They at first stay with their eldest son Koichi , who is a children's doctor , and are able to rest a bit around their children and grandchilden , Isamu and Minoru who are a bit less than thrilled having their grandparents stay with them .
However , things begin to sour soon after the couple's arrival . One Sunday , when the entire family is planning on going out together Koichi is called into work . This sets off a series of events in which Koichi and his family are too busy to spend time with his parents . Feeling their welcome strained at Koichi's , the couple decides to stay with their eldest daughter , Shige . However , Shige is even less accomodating than Koichi . From the moment her parents walk through the door , she is complaining about their presence and unloads them on Noriko , the widow of Shukichi and Tomi's second son who died in World War II . Although Noriko lives in a small , spartan apartment , brings in less income , and is not even a blood relative she looks after the old couple better than their children .
However , while the old couple is with Noriko , Shige convinces Koichi to have his parent's visit Atami instead of spending the remaining days of their trip with them . Shukichi and Tomi do go , but they soon return because the establishment is intended for a younger crowd . Almost thrown out of Shige's home when they return , Tomi stays the night with Noriko again , and Shukichi goes out to drink with his old friends Hattori and Numata . While Tomi has a heart to heart conversation with Noriko , Shukichi gets completely wasted , and upon returning to Shige's , with a drunken Numata , the viewer witnesses Shige pushing and prodding Shukichi . Although this seems a bit cruel , and it is , Shige is actually a bit concerned that her father is drinking again .
The next morning Shukichi and Tomi board a train to return home , but Tomi becomes ill so the couple has to make an emergency stop in Osaka where they stay with their third son , Keizo .
They eventually make it backhome , but soon after their arrival , Tomi becomes very ill . Telegrams are sent to each family member to return to the family home immediately . . .
This is a wonderful film . I have heard much about Ozu since I became a graduate student , but I had never watched one of his films before . This one is quite moving and it depicts quite well how a family can grow apart from each other . The scene where Shige asks to have a couple of pieces of her mother's clothing , on the day of the funeral , left me steaming .
050 4 This movie begins simply enough with the elderly couple Shukichi and Tomi arriving in Tokyo to see their collective children and grandchildren whom they have not seen for a number of years . At first it seems like everything is going well . They at first stay with their eldest son Koichi , who is a children's doctor , and are able to rest a bit around their children and grandchilden , Isamu and Minoru who are a bit less than thrilled having their grandparents stay with them .
However , things begin to sour soon after the couple's arrival . One Sunday , when the entire family is planning on going out together Koichi is called into work . This sets off a series of events in which Koichi and his family are too busy to spend time with his parents . Feeling their welcome strained at Koichi's , the couple decides to stay with their eldest daughter , Shige . However , Shige is even less accomodating than Koichi . From the moment her parents walk through the door , she is complaining about their presence and unloads them on Noriko , the widow of Shukichi and Tomi's second son who died in World War II . Although Noriko lives in a small , spartan apartment , brings in less income , and is not even a blood relative she looks after the old couple better than their children .
However , while the old couple is with Noriko , Shige convinces Koichi to have his parent's visit Atami instead of spending the remaining days of their trip with them . Shukichi and Tomi do go , but they soon return because the establishment is intended for a younger crowd . Almost thrown out of Shige's home when they return , Tomi stays the night with Noriko again , and Shukichi goes out to drink with his old friends Hattori and Numata . While Tomi has a heart to heart conversation with Noriko , Shukichi gets completely wasted , and upon returning to Shige's , with a drunken Numata , the viewer witnesses Shige pushing and prodding Shukichi . Although this seems a bit cruel , and it is , Shige is actually a bit concerned that her father is drinking again .
The next morning Shukichi and Tomi board a train to return home , but Tomi becomes ill so the couple has to make an emergency stop in Osaka where they stay with their third son , Keizo .
They eventually make it backhome , but soon after their arrival , Tomi becomes very ill . Telegrams are sent to each family member to return to the family home immediately . . .
This is a wonderful film . I have heard much about Ozu since I became a graduate student , but I had never watched one of his films before . This one is quite moving and it depicts quite well how a family can grow apart from each other . The scene where Shige asks to have a couple of pieces of her mother's clothing , on the day of the funeral , left me steaming .
051 4 .
With Ozu we enter a whole new landscape that contains subtlties upon subtlties . Wind upon the ocean . The embarrasment of older parents shuffled off to jazzy seaside . An unknown but somehow recognizable temple on a hill-top.An ungrateful and grating daughter.People loping along on a tour bus . A vivacious continuously grateful daughter - in law . well - - This is Ozu and as people onthis review-page have summed up the story line I won't go into that . But look to Ozu for what you won't find elsewhere : the world in semi-tones . The world in little moments that we so busy spending that their resonance eludes us .
This is a great film . But a very quiet one . It unravels before you like your own family might : parents come to visit . are going to spend time with them . Don't spend time with them . Shuffle them off to seaside . Dissapointment . Shuffle them off to Daughter in law . Some success there though some guilt . Father gets Drunk . Things just keep going on .
I've watched this film at least 3 or 4 times and never tire of it .
Don't look for action or even monumental drama and enjoy .
052 4 This film was held back from international distribution for many years because it was thought to be too Japanese . It's hard to imagine why .
The story is immediately engrossing and keeps you rivetted from start to finish . It's not Seven Samurai or Yojimbo , but a simple tale of an elderly couple travelling to Tokyo to see their children . What results is disappointment and resentment masked by plastic smiles , false pleasantries and rigid formality . The parents are disappointed in the children , and the children resent the parents . There are no intense moments of melodrama or intriguing plot twists to entertain the viewer . Worlds of pain and suffering are revealed through a few words here or there , or through subtle body language .
The film is beautifully photographed with a minimal amount of camera movement ( if there is any at all ) , and is well preserved by Criterion . It may not be the best restoration ever , but it's superior to the infamous Ran transfers , and hardly noticeable when the film carries you away .
The entire cast is wonderful , varying from polite inoffensive formality of the elderly couple , the businesslike , obligatory courtesy of the children , and carefree lack of pretentiousness of the grandchildren . The characters are so realistic that you may be reminded of friends or family . Standing out are Chishu Ryu as the father and Setsuko Hara as the widow of Ryu's deceased son . Hara spends most of her film time bearing the most artificial and forced smiles , almost annoyingly , until the end with her scene with Ryu in which years of concealed heartbreak finally come to the surface . It is simple to the point of understatement , and quite memorable .
Ozu , one of the most neglected artists in the West , shows himself here to be one of the great directors of all time in this universal tale of deception and honesty . I'm not going to throw away Kurosawa , but I will let him set on the back-burner for a while so i can explore the new and soon to be released works of this Quiet Master of cinema .
054 4 This is vintage Criterion : good image quality and great extras ( a detailed commentary and a biography of the director ) .
055 4 I first watched this film 15 years ago . It still moves me . A wonderful example of less is more . Perfect film making .
056 4 Tokyo Story is a film about families and for that reason could have been a horror film . After all , what are we all facing at the end of life ? Who might we need to help us ?
At the moment , you may not be at that stage so you may feel you can forget about how you treat people in your life .
This film may make you reassess ( temporarily ) then go back to your normal way of living .
If it makes you think , then it has fulfilled its purpose .
Film critics love to get intellectual about very simple things - a sort of backward way to look at things . They love this film . Watch it and see something you've missed .
The DVD is expensive , so I recommend a rental .
The film is unsettling as it reminds us all of what's coming eventually .
057 4 A lovely movie with excellent direction and brilliant acting . Any true fan of cinemography will enjoy the interesting camera views , the beautiful scenes vis a vi the direction and the touching plot .
However , this movie won't fare well with modern audiences , because first it is in a foreign language ( English subtitles ) and second it is a very slow developing movie . In our current society , where the average attention span is about five minutes , this movie won't be appreciated . But , for those who enjoy a intellectually stimulating experience , Tokyo Story will make you reflect on your ideals and convictions towards your family , especially your parents .
Unfortunately , I don't see how today's younger audiences will get anything out of this film . Seeing as how most of their mentalities are turn 18 , say goodbye to mom and dad , live as salaciously and promiscuously as legally and physically possible , and then eventually get married because all my friends are doing it .
If you are patient and enjoy reading books , you will love this movie . However , if you need action and constant eye candy , you might want to avoid this film . Keep in mind that it truly is a classic , with a valuable message .
I don't know if you want to pay forty dollars for it , unless you are a collector . If you are just curious , you might want to check your local library for it and if you like it as much as I did , then buy it . If you are looking for a nice film that is much lighter and carries some of the same messages , try A Blast From the Past with Brandon Frasier .
058 4 This is the story of an elderly Japanese grandma & grandpa who travel a far distance by train to visit their kids in Tokyo . Only problem is , their kids live in tiny crowded homes and are not on vacation . This leads to the parents being unceremoniously routed from one child to the next because nobody has the time to entertain them . As it turns out , the child who is nicest to them is the daughter-in-law , wife of their dead son , who we presume died in the war . When the grandma dies unexpectedly , the children are very concerned about grabbing her possessions . I assume the director is trying to make a statement about the elderly not getting the respect and the compassion that they enjoyed in the pre-war era , but I can't say for sure since this is outside of my culture .
This film was shot in black & white . Sometimes black & white has a wonderfully velvety and mysterious quality and sometimes it simply looks harsh . In this picture it comes across as harsh . The subtitles are in white with black outline and they are very difficult to read . Half the time they are just blending right into the picture . I had to sit very close to the tv set in order to catch all the words , and I have 20 / 20 vision with my glasses . I think the subtitles should have been done in red or some other color that would make them easier to read .
059 4 To be frank , a Yasujiro Ozu film will be appreciated by a very small subset of today's population . His movies are slow-moving compared to films often described as slow-moving . Scenes are so mundane that a new viewer will think he watching a webcam broadcast of some Japanese living room rather than a movie . The drama generally comprises little disturbances of everyday life .
This film , considered by many his masterpiece , is not so subtle . It reminds me more of a fairy tale with wicked step-sisters of a virtuous young beauty . Here , the step-sisters are a man and his sister who are inconvenienced by their aged parents visiting them in Tokyo . The young beauty is their impoverished daughter-in-law , widow of their son , who sacrifices workdays to be with them . At least the old couple regret their burden on the daughter-in-law's meager life , while Ozu and ardent fans of this movie don't seem to .
There is a sub-theme on expectations which doesn't quite mesh with the theme on ' selfishness vs self-destruc . . . I mean , self-sacrifice . '
This is told in 2 hrs 15 minutes of B & W footage .
( If you're new to Ozu and this movie doesn't sound appealing , try
LATE SPRING
instead . )
060 4 This 1953 film is absolutely one of the most boring movies of all time . Admittedly I'm not a real film critic , and I often look for entertainment in a film , but I do like independent and foreign films a lot because they often provide a more humanistic perspective than the junk out of Hollywood where producers care nothing for you and me but only big bucks . But to call Tokyo Story one of the best films of all time is a total insult to the many , many much , much better movies and filmmakers out there . The story can touch the human heart , but the presentation is excruciatingly slow and boring and you'll feel like pulling your hair out after the first 20 minutes . In the end it just feels pretentious . A much better Japanese movie from that era was this one about the Hiroshima atomic bomb . This , on the other hand , is a torture to watch and only appeals to a limited audience .
061 4 i would give this film zero stars , but it won't let me .
this is a realist film . it's long , and it's boring . not that i hate realist films . but this one is predictable , and i was waiting the whole time for the end to come . i guess i'm just unsympathetic to what others called insight to the human condition . just because others consider this a classic , doesn't mean you have to .
