Tokyo Story (東京物語, Tōkyō Monogatari^?) is a 1953 Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. It tells the story of an aging couple who travel to Tokyo to visit their grown children. The film contrasts the behavior of their biological children, who are too busy to pay them much attention, and their daughter-in-law, who treats them with kindness. It is often regarded as Ozu's masterpiece, and has twice appeared in Sight & Sound magazine's 'Top Ten' list of the greatest films ever made.

Plot[link]

Japanese movie poster

Two elderly parents Shukichi (Chishu Ryu) and Tomi Hirayama (Chieko Higashiyama), from the small seaside town of Onomichi in southwest Japan, pay a visit to their busy children in Tokyo and Osaka. Only their youngest unmarried daughter lives with them: Kyoko (Kyoko Kagawa), a schoolteacher.

After the day-long journey from Onomichi to Tokyo, the couple finds themselves neglected by their children. Their eldest son, Koichi (So Yamamura), is a district pediatrician with two boys. Their eldest daughter, Shige (Haruko Sugimura), is a hairdresser. The children wish to spend time with their parents, and do, to an extent; but, as they have lives, work and families of their own, they find it difficult to maintain a balance between the two. Only the couple's widowed daughter-in-law Noriko (Setsuko Hara) goes out of her way to entertain them. She takes them on a sightseeing tour of metropolitan Tokyo.

Koichi and Shige pay for their parents' cheap stay at the hot spring spa at Atami, but the parents return because the busy nightlife at the hotel interrupts their sleep. Shukichi stays with Shige and visits some old friends, while Tomi goes to visit Noriko. At Noriko's, Tomi advises Noriko to remarry as her husband, the couple's son, died eight years ago in the war. Shukichi, meanwhile, gets drunk with some old friends.

The couple are dissatisfied, though uncomplaining, and they leave for home. They stop at their youngest son Keizo's (Shiro Osaka) place at Osaka, but during the ensuing train journey Tomi is taken ill. When they reach Onomichi, Tomi becomes critically ill. Koichi, Shige and Noriko rush to Onomichi, on receiving telegrams, to see Tomi, who dies shortly afterwards. Keizo arrives late as he is outstationed.

After the funeral, Koichi, Shige and Keizo decide to leave immediately as they have their work at Osaka and Tokyo, leaving only Noriko to keep their father company. After they leave, Kyoko complains to Noriko that they are selfish and inconsiderate, but Noriko explains that everyone has their own lives to lead and that the drift between parents and children is inevitable.

After Kyoko leaves for school, Noriko informs her father-in-law that she must return to Tokyo that afternoon. Shukichi tells her that she has treated them best despite not being related by blood. Noriko insists on her own selfishness; Shukichi credits her protests to humility. He gives her a watch from the late Tomi as a memento, and advises her to remarry. At the end, the train with Noriko speeds from Onomichi back to Tokyo, leaving behind Kyoko and Shukichi.

Production[link]

The script was developed by Yasujirō Ozu and his long-time collaborator Kōgo Noda over a period of 103 days in a country inn in Chigasaki. The two, together with cinematographer Yuharu Atsuta, then scouted locations in Tokyo and Onomichi for another month before shooting started. Shooting and editing the film took place from July to October 1953. In many respects the production of Tokyo Story was unremarkable and routine. As with most Ozu films, production - from the development of the script to the final editing - took four months to complete. Ozu used the same film crew and actors he had worked with for many years and the film's themes were similar to the themes of his other films.^[1]

Reception[link]

In Sight and Sound magazine's polls of directors and critics, Tokyo Story appeared three times among the greatest films ever made (it was 3rd in 1992 on the critics' poll, 5th on the critics list in 2002, and it tied at number 16 with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Andrei Tarkovsky's The Mirror in 2002 on the directors' poll).^[2][3] It holds a 100% "Fresh" rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 34 critical reviews, with also the highest average critical score on the website at 9.7/10.^[4] John Walker, former editor of the Halliwell's Film Guides, places Tokyo Story at the top of his published list of the best 1000 films ever made. Tokyo Story is also included in film critic Derek Malcolm's The Century of Films,^[5] a list of films which he deems artistically or culturally important, and Time Magazine lists it among their All-Time 100 Movies. It was ranked #16 in Empire magazine's "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.^[6] Roger Ebert includes it in his series of great movies,^[7] and Paul Schrader placed it in the "Gold" section of his Film Canon.^[8] The film was restored and released on DVD by The Criterion Collection as a two-disc DVD set (Region 1) and by Tartan Video in Region 2. In 2010 the British Film Institute released a dual format edition of Tokyo Story in (Region B) Blu-ray as well as DVD. Also included in this package is Ozu's 1941 film Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family, which explores similar themes.

Style[link]

Like all of Ozu's sound films, Tokyo Story's pacing is slow (or, as David Bordwell prefers to describe it, "calm").^[9] Important events are often not shown on screen, only being revealed later through dialogue. For example, Ozu does not depict the mother and father's journey to Tokyo at all.^[10] Ozu uses his distinctive camera style, often called “tatami-mat” shot, in which the camera height is low and almost never moves; film critic Roger Ebert notes that the camera moves once in the film, which is "more than usual" for an Ozu film.^[7]

DVD Release[link]

In 2010, the BFI released a Region 2 Dual Format Edition (Blu-ray + DVD).^[11] Included with this release is a standard definition presentation of Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Tokyo Story at the Internet Movie Database
• Tokyo Story at Rotten Tomatoes
• Tokyo Story at Ozu-san.com