Cinema
Tokyo Story
東京物語
Yasujiro Ozu · 1953
Synopsis
Shūkichi and Tomi Hirayama, an elderly couple from Onomichi, go to see their children in Tokyo. The eldest son, Kōichi, is a doctor; their daughter Shige runs a beauty salon; neither has time for them, and the welcome is almost indifferent, according to the British Film Institute. Only Noriko, the widow of their son Shōji, looks after them. A stay at Atami is cut short, and the old parents end up feeling in the way.
Context
The film is loosely inspired by an American film by Leo McCarey released in 1937, and its screenplay is credited to Noda Kōgo and its director; it was released on 3 November 1953. Exporters judged it too Japanese, and it was only in 1957, at the London festival, that it became the first film by its director shown abroad; it received the first Sutherland Trophy there. An analysis published in London notes the 50 mm lens, the low camera and the absence of fades.
Who it is for
A slow film of more than two hours, in Japanese with subtitles. Almost nothing happens in it, and that is the very subject.
Prizes and reception
First in the Sight and Sound directors' poll in 2012, and the greatest Japanese film of all time according to Kinema Junpō in 2009.