Tokyo Story (Tôkyô monogatari) poster & wallpaper

Chieko Higashiyama, Chishu Ryu, Haruko Sugimura

'Tokyo Story' is a meditation on the generational gap and the trials of mortality. An elderly couple visits their children in a bustling Tokyo, where they are seen almost as a nuisance and shuffled of...( read more  read more... )f to a resort. Modernization is the torrent that tears through Japanese society, and this film takes a hard look at what it has done to the family unit.

Flixster Users

94% liked it

7,359 ratings

Critics

100% liked it

21 critics

Unrated, 2 hrs. 16 min.

Directed by: Yasujiro Ozu

Release Date: November 3, 1953

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: October 30, 2003

Stats: 612 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites
report incorrect info

Photos

None yet... Got one?

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (612)

  • sanjurosamurai
    May 12, 2009
    sanjurosamurai
    a profound and beautifully told story that lives up to the hype and challenges even the most well meaning children on issues of honoring their parents. the story is stirring, especially as it picks up steam from its slow start. the actors capture their characters hearts well, a...( read more)nd the film brings back visions of the life checking thoughts brought on by ikiru. this film begs the question, "how shall we then live?"
  • her69eyes
    April 15, 2009
    her69eyes
    "Tokyo Story", both as a narrative and in terms of visual technique, is extremely minimalistic. Yasujiro Ozu, the widely celebrated director, doesn't move his camera or cut in the middle of a conversation. Instead, however, the majority of "Tokyo Story" is filmed in static unmovi...( read more)ng shots, with the camera usually positioned three feet above the ground (to be at eye-level with an average Japanese person kneeling on a meditation pillow). Although on the surface this seems like filmmaking at it's most basic level, it's sophistication is what makes Ozu's classic stand apart. Ozu is aware of environment and positioning, masterfully framing every scene. The lack of visual flare is also intentional. Ozu's camera is never perceived as present - instead, we, as the audience, are drawn in to study each mannerism more closely and dissect every spoken word. Only in a film of this style could a simple agreeable statement, like "yes", carry on so many meanings.

    The film is largely about traditional vs. modern living, with Ozu's bias certainly in favor of a preservation of simplistic, untechnological, and an ultimately more fulfilling way of living. The grandparents in the film represent a generation bound by strong family values, whereas the children are more focused on work and a wealth of material goods. The grandchildren are even more distant from the grandparents, not even giving so much as a "hello" before running off. "Tokyo Story" is a film that makes you want to fix your imperfections and embrace your family. It suggests that we're losing what makes us human, and by replacing legitimate human connection with technology we'll lose all sight of love.

    Shukichi (Chisu Ryu) and Tomi (Chiyeko Higashiyama) are both in their late sixties. Neither of them show any blatant signs of affection towards one another, but they've certainly moved on from a troubled past that included Shukichi's battles with alcohol. The two decide to visit their children: the youngest, Keizo (Shiro Osaka), lives in Osaka; and the oldest, Koichi (So Yamamura), and his sister, Shige (Haruko Sugimura), live in Tokyo. Keizo and Koichi are both married, as was the parent's other child before he was killed in World War II. His widow, Noriko (Setsuko Hara), has not remarried.

    The film focuses on the idea that the parents are an inconvenience to the children. Shukichi and Tomi are largely kept at home or sent to a day spa to get out of the way. Only Noriko, not herself a blood relative, treats the old couple with any human decency. While the children are selfish, it doesn't necessarily demonize them. They are casually criticized, however we see them in ourselves, and in all of our friends. These aren't "villains" - they are, instead, us.

    "Tokyo Story" lost me at a few moments due to it's pacing, however I can't recall a film that has stuck with me for so long. It's a film that makes your appreciation grow primarily through reexamining it and, well, your life. "Tokyo Story" requires a patient viewer, but it's well worth the dedication it takes to immerse yourself in it's world.
  • wanbaclone
    January 30, 2009
    wanbaclone
    To think that Yasujiro Ozu?s Tokyo Story (1953) wasn?t released to audiences in the US until 1972 is a reminder of just how quickly it has become a beloved classic, and how Ozu for most of the 20th century was ignored outside his home country. Ozu was preeminently a Japanese dir...( read more)ector. He kept his finger on the pulse of Japanese life and strayed only once, his first film, into period pieces. Alternatively, Akira Kurosawa, the director that shares the title with Ozu as the greatest Japanese director, regularly staged samurai films, sometimes mixing in Shakespeare and other Western influences. Kurosawa was therefore more quickly assimilated into film canonicity in the West; however, now that Ozu has been given a fair shake in the last 30 years, it is clear his themes ? if not his locales ? are universal.

    One more reason it might have taken longer for Ozu (and Tokyo Story) to receive and audience is because of his style. Like any great director of merit, Ozu has a very distinct style. He rarely moves his camera, opting instead to cut if a new camera angle is called for. Ozu also shoots more often than not from a much lower level than most Western filmmakers. Ozu positions his camera not at the height at which a person stands but at the height a person kneels. This, of course, makes sense in Japanese culture because most important conversations take place on the knees on mats. This lack of camera movement as well as a steady camera height and angle give Ozu?s films an objectivity that borders on nearly documentarian. Ozu is not interested in projecting a feeling onto his audience by manipulation of editing and camera; instead, the characters are allowed freedom to tell their story without interference.

    That?s a lot of background information on Ozu, but I feel it?s necessary because Tokyo Story (and other films by Ozu) can be tough to watch if you aren?t familiar with the style. Even with such information, Tokyo Story requires a patient and engaged viewer. It is fair to say that Tokyo Story can even be taxing at times, but that is only because it is extremely complex and layered. It may be necessary to break up Tokyo Story into two sittings. (I did this the first and third times I watched it.) Each time I watch Tokyo Story, I enjoy it more and marvel at its accomplishment.

    A movie could not be considered one of the best ever made if it doesn?t have universal appeal. Tokyo Story deals with a broad range of issues, but at its heart, it deals with the nature of human relationships and how time changes them. Relationships in Tokyo Story, specifically those of family, are both beautiful and ugly. Ozu uses everyday life to show the inter-workings of a multi-generational family at its best and worst, and each character (save maybe one) is neither wholly good or wholly bad but instead completely human.

    Tokyo Story begins with an elderly couple, Shukishi and Tomi Hirayama, making the finishing arrangements before a trip to see their grown children in Tokyo. Only one of the Hirayama children still lives with them, and we can guess she will most likely be married soon and leave their home. Besides this child, Ozu throughout the course of the film makes the viewer work to figure out who exactly the other children are. They are not introduced in a straightforward manner, and sometimes it is minutes before a character is identified. Ozu makes it necessary to pay close attention to the characters and in doing so the viewer must invest in them.

    Out of the five children, only the daughter that still lives with the parents seems to want to spend time with the elderly couple, and so, when the couple arrives in Tokyo, they are shuffled from one house to the next and eventually sent to a resort to remove them from the busy lives of the two children that live in Tokyo. While clearly the children are selfish, Ozu does not demonize them. We quickly find out that these two children have lives of their own and are very busy. At least they, unlike another son living in a different town, work to accommodate the couple ? albeit with reservation.

    Ozu consistently exaggerates the distance between characters ? even the elderly couple ? showing both the necessity of companionship as well as its inherent shortfalls: it?s impossible to be completely satisfied and connected with another human being. When Tomi (the elderly matriarch) dies, it is unexpected to the family; however, ironically, the audience was well aware that something was wrong earlier when she voiced complaints of fatigue and hinted that ?something might happen? to her. The signs of her failing health were completely overlooked. This death allows each character to reflect on the life of their mother and voice regrets as well as moments of joy which comment on the paradoxical relationship each shared with their mother. Most of these memories deal with the every day and the mundane ? things Tokyo Story is interested in.

    One child, however, is loathsome. One of the daughters. If we are not already annoyed with her when early in the movie she voices her exasperation at the inconvenience of her parents? visit, by the time she asks for her mother?s kimono the night after her mother?s death, we are shocked. Only one member of the family recognizes how insensitive such a request is: the youngest daughter. It is not that this insensitive daughter dislikes her family or wishes to be hurtful, she merely is oblivious to the impropriety of her behavior. She may be the extreme example of this in the film, but every other character generally lacks bits of self-awareness as well.

    Ozu steers his film away from fatalism by including the character Noriko. Noriko is the daughter-in-law of Shukishi and Tomi, but her husband, their son, died in World War II. It then becomes curious and unexpectedly heartwarming when Noriko shows the most regard for Shukishi and Tomi during their visit in Tokyo even though she is no longer tied to them by blood. Noriko is also the character who stays longest with Shukishi after Tomi dies, and in one of the most moving scenes in film history, Shukishi and Noriko share an unguarded moment of human confession and connection before Noriko must leave to go home. This scene works because ? and only because ? Ozu has generally steered clear of heavy handed tear jerking until this point in the film.

    In 2002, Sight & Sound, the highly respected British film magazine polled leading critics to choose their picks for the top ten greatest films ever made. Tokyo Story was number five. Again, it is the universality of its themes dealing with time, change, family, and the meaning of life itself which set it apart from other good movies. Tokyo Story is complex, never settling for needlessly easy answers to problems its characters face.

    As one character puts it, ?To lose your children is hard but living with them isn?t always easier.? In such statements, Ozu gives us the paradoxes of human relationship and why it?s so damn hard to connect, and yet, why we keep trying.
  • columbiatch
    November 4, 2008
    columbiatch
    To me there is no single greatest film from Yasujiro Ozu but a whole filmography of masterpieces that spans human life from youth to old age, a chronicler of contemporary family life. Whereas Tokyo Story is mostly concerned with the generational divide between mid aged and elderl...( read more)y generations, a film like Good Morning focuses on children, or a film like An Autumn Afternoon is about old age. Ozu was influenced by Hollywood directors, and he created his own narrative system and aesthetics by modifying the classical Hollywood continuity system into his own unique, experimental style using 360 degree space, static geometrical compositions, and elliptical editing. Ozu gradually refined his already distinctive style through his films in the 30's and 40's, removing camera movement and transition effects, all with the effect of placing more focus to the characters. Ozu was essentially a director who made comedies to mainstream audiences in his time, and often employed bathroom humor and fart jokes while dealing with timeless themes of human relationships with subtlety and restraint.
  • Jungian
    November 3, 2008
    Jungian
    The film that started my Ozu obsession. Classic.
  • 00Film
    November 15, 2009
    00Film
    an amazing film in itz own rite.....very japanese in culture.....but very powerful setsuko hara was a wonderful human being....she was a joy 2watch
  • cotaxidriver
    November 3, 2009
    cotaxidriver
    A great portrait of typical Japanese life!!
  • ElCochran90
    October 20, 2009
    ElCochran90
    - Isn't life disappointing?
    - Yes, it is.

    TÔKYÔ MONOGATARI (1953)


    Director: Yasujiro Ozu
    Country: Japan
    Genre: Drama
    Length: 136 minutes

    ...( read more)/ElCochran90/?action=view¤t=tokyo_story.jpg" target="_blank">Photobucket

    Japan may be the superlative country for creating timeless masterpieces, which may be a daring and controversial statement that may originate debate. However, Yasujiro Ozu reportedly belongs among the greatest directors of all time, exposing simple and honest ideas about life itself in the purest form possible. Tôkyô Monogatari officially ranks as one of the best films ever made in cinema history. The reasons are as abundant and justifiable as they are commonly accepted. In a time where Eastern culture was inspired by tales regarding honor, bravery, existentialism and a strong Buddhist influence in films (specially since the 50's), Ozu directs a strong contender for the most heartwarming, reflexive, humanist and quietly peaceful drama ever conceived within cinema.

    Tôkyô Monogatari deals with a pretty simple plot set in postwar Tokyo, where an old couple decides to take a vacation and visit their children and grandchildren in the city: the Hirayama family. However, they soon find out that their own children have no time for them, seemingly due to their busy and productive lives. Since the parents unintentionally are in the way of the children the whole time, they end up being sent to a health spa in an attempt of getting rid of them. Epiphanic self realizations and haunting consequences torment all of the characters in their own way according to their role within the family and particular actions once that tragedy inevitably ensues.

    The humanist vision and unique direction of Ozu has always been admired and this is, perhaps, his most representative and personal classic film. The contrast present between the parent's home and the city is perfectly synchronized with the contrast between their tender, mature and loving personalities and the selfishness, ingratitude, egocentrism and emotional insensitivity of their own family with which they are horribly welcomed. There is no acting in this film, but just characters. The actresses and actors become their own characters to portray and add an incredible dose of credibility and naturalism. From the selfish and uninterested characters to the loving and caring ones, including a compassionate and beautiful widowed daughter in law who smiles with every phrase and statement she makes until she submits herself to the healing and moving power of tears, we are offered a complete and compelling dramatic story that invites to deep reflection, a characteristic that was successfully represented through the performances of the brilliant cast.

    The cinematography is as peaceful and harmonic as the pace of the film. Both are slow, but enchanting, and enhance the ironic beauty of life itself. The camera, instead of focusing on "where we are", shows "what is there" and explains the emotions that can be found in both the characters and the environment. It doesn't require a hyperactive movement throughout, but an emphasis on the hypnotic power of locations and landscapes and on facial expressions, as if they were prioritized. Kojun Saitô's lovable work for the musical score is relaxingly respectable, an effort that allowed maximizing the emotions and ideas transmitted through the film including its technical aspects, which is as simple and classically common for its time as the story. The screenplay developed by Yasujiro Ozu and Kôgo Noda is fascinating, not because of its poetic brilliance and simplicity, but because of its effort to create completely human characters and for adding a tremendous power to the overall cinematic feeling of the film, which resorted to situations that, ironically, may appeal to modern audiences in even a more significant way that it did back in the 50's.

    At first glance, Tôkyô Monogatari may not seem the great masterpiece it really is. Stereotypes and clichés in modern films, among several other negatively affecting influential factors, have deteriorated not only the classic and decent form of filmmaking and direction that existed in the first decades since cinema was created, but also the very image of cinema itself. Cinema was originated from the use of a camera that documented seconds of real-life events, until the idea of fiction came up, allowing the birth of a genre called drama, as it was an already existent concept since theatre and literature were existent arts. The purpose of drama was to depict fictional stories with empathetic characters that, thanks to the unstoppable force and irony of destiny, had to face determined believable situations, some of them which mirrored real life. That was exactly the purpose of Yasujiro Ozu through Tôkyô Monogatari, among other drama artworks that he had already done and would do later, from dramatic comedies like Otana no Miru Ehon - Umarete wa Mita Keredo (1932) to dramas like Ukigusa (1959).

    Tôkyô Monogatari naturally deals with common topics such as self-acceptance, family's love and rejection and the possible outcomes of mortality, topics which supposedly prioritized importance are frequently ignored. It is a social criticism set in times of destruction and necessary reconstruction, where the catastrophic consequences of war, politics and the thirst for power caused such a wonderfully intellectual and artistically cultured country to plan a new beginning for itself after a noticeable economical, social and spiritual downfall. The parents unconsciously represent the past and classic lifestyle of Japan, where the simplicity of life predominated and irrevocably included family love without excluding the possible purposes of life, whereas their younger family and children portray the lost hope of a nation submerged in modernism. The roots (that is, origins) of a life style are always homage around the world according to the customs of every country and region, and Tôkyô Monogatari perhaps does the same thing, establishing a connection to the past and the changes and modifications that actuality has forced humanity to go through and assimilate.

    Tôkyô Monogatari is a modest, yet gigantic triumph, as well as a landmark in Japanese cinema. The greatest masterpiece of Ozu according to the majority's opinion, including mine, has left a legacy that will be kept for decades to come, just like it has been kept until nowadays. Although it may not exactly be the most accessible film for Western culture, it is undeniably moving and inevitably appealing, like a screaming wake-up-call for modern audiences who have forgotten faith and hope and lost the original vision we as human beings had towards the world when we were kids and, interestingly, people from past decades, where existence seemed to have enough challenges of its own with a fast and modernized constant progress. It works as a drama film, as a morality story, as a reflection on mortality and life purposes, as a family tale, as a heartwarming piece of cinema, and, ultimately, as a Tokyo story.

    100/100
  • byby5
    October 1, 2009
    byby5
    It's a well constructed movie, but I didn't like it. I felt like if the actors were not acting, especially the father. Really different from an american movie though, in the shooting and in the way the story is told.
  • gackt0312
    September 16, 2009
    gackt0312
    need patience to watch

View All Tokyo Story (Tôkyô monogatari) Reviews

Critic Reviews

December 30, 2004
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Ozu doesn't sentimentalize or condemn; he merely observes human nature with calm and clarity. full review

January 15, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

It ennobles the cinema. It says, yes, a movie can help us make small steps against our imperfections. full review

View more Tokyo Story (Tôkyô monogatari) reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "Tokyo Story (Tôkyô monogatari)" !

Post A Comment | View All Comments

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

All Rotten Tomatoes content is used under license from Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes, Certified Fresh, and the Tomatometer are the trademarks of Incfusion Corporation, d/b/a Rotten Tomatoes, a subsidiary of IGN Entertainment, Inc.

Cast

More Like This

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde inseglet)
    The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde inseglet) (100%)

More Movies like Tokyo Story (Tôkyô monogatari)

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Tokyo Story (Tôky... : Watch Free on TV

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Tokyo Story (Tôkyô monogatari). Want to create one?

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add Tokyo Story (Tôkyô monogatari) to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?