TOKYO STORY

Review: An elderly couple decide to go off and visit their children and grandchildren in the city. Once they get to the city they find that their children have little time for them.
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Actors: Chishu Ryu, Chieko Higashiyama and So Yamamura
Year: 1953
Genre: Art House, Drama and International
Conclusion: 4/5
The original title for this film is Tokyo Monogatari. This film is often cited as a film makers’ favourite film. This is jointly followed by other films such as Citizen Kane (1941), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and John Ford’s The Searchers (1956). Both Chishu Ryu and Chieko Higashiyama give performances of great dignity. Watching this film it is no surprise to learn that Yasujiro Ozu never married and lived dutifully with his mother all his life. You could say that the main theme in this is about the break-up and westernization of the traditional Japanese family after World War II and the children growing apart from their parents. It is an enormously moving film. In one of my film books (Timeout, 1000 Films to change your life) it quotes about this film “The director gives us life and nothing but, yet the simplicity resonates loud and long.” I saw this film at my local cinema club.