Voyage à Tokyo

Japanese cinema is full of great and creative directors. From Kurosawa and Mizugochi to more modern filmmakers like Kobayashi and Nagisa Oshima and Shishihara. Yet Ozu, like a detached taffeta of them all, deserves the title of the most Japanese filmmaker in the history of cinema. A filmmaker who, if they show you a shot of a film you have not seen before, you will immediately know that it was made by artist Yasujiro Ozu.

The Tokyo Story is one of the best films ever made and one of the most important works of art of the twentieth century. As an artist and, of course, a great teacher, Ozu slowly creates the structure of his masterpiece with his inherent camera and inherent calmness, so that the viewer suddenly finds himself in the middle of it without realizing it.

"The passage of irreversible moments" Life is the field of our right and wrong choices, and the Tokyo Story is a small corner of this life and choices, and with all its beauties and ugliness, it is full of flips and lessons. Look at the Tokyo Story movie not as a fun movie but as a lasting impact on your life forever, so that we may pay a little more attention to what we have today that may not be tomorrow.

An appreciation of this movie may demand some understanding of Japanese culture. The Japanese are rather reserved, and were even more reserved back in the early 1950's, when this film is set. No embracing, even of parents, children, siblings; no dramatic histrionics; even a death scene in this movie is much quieter than a Westerner might expect.

Consequently I can't really blame several reviewers here for calling this movie boring and slow-paced. But it is not at all slow-paced from a different cultural perspective. It just depends on what you're used to.

If you do take the time to watch and try to understand it, you'll find an engrossing analysis of the dynamic of a middle-class family, the rift that grows up between generations, and of the many excuses we find ourselves making to justify our neglect for others, even those dearest to us. These themes are universal, but are couched in a postwar Japanese idiom, and so probably less accessible to the average Western viewer.

I have wondered awhile about a speech at the end by Noriko, the widowed daughter-in-law, in which she denies that she's such a good person (though her actions in the movie indicate otherwise). I'm still not sure I understand her motives in saying this. For the most part, however, this movie will not leave you puzzled, but it may leave you a bit wiser, and a bit more reluctant to make those excuses.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"Tokyo Story" (1953) is an ageless story about family, love and realizing of true values in life. This is a sad but at the same time inspiring story - but enough about stories - this movie shows life as it is - still.

I loved the performances in this movie by simply everyone involved, as well as great directing and amazing writing. Although the movie is 2 h 15 min long and its a black and white "old" movie don't be fooled - this is a great movie that makes you think about your life and especially the people you love and that you have to love them while their are still here with you, because life is very short and better make most of it with the people you love. Great movie.

I can't take my mind off this movie. The story is both universally human (old age, the end of life, parents and children) and specifically Japanese. The movie tells the viewer so much about Japanese middle class life in the 1950s: eating and sleeping; mourning the war dead; clothes and home furnishings; spoiled kids; a doctor's office; a schoolroom; life in Tokyo and small towns; how family members talk to each other; old men's drinking habits; a resort hotel. But while we see all these details of a real time and place, we are constantly drawn into reflection on the meaning of human life and relationships. The reflection emerges effortlessly from the simple narrative and the specifics. The director never annoyingly tells us how to feel, he is not preaching and not drawing attention to himself. (There is none of that "hey, I'm making a moving movie" crud that you get in Hollywood treatment of these topics). He just lets the story unfold in a quiet, natural way. It's not for folks who only like "action" movies. I put "action" in quotes because this movie is about the real action in life--enjoying life, sharing it with others, facing the end of it.

I can vividly remember the first time i saw this movie - it was during a festival of Japanese movies in an art house cinema here in Dublin. I must admit to never having heard of Ozu before, i went out of boredom and casual curiosity. I was embarrassed at the end to find myself in tears. I quickly wiped them away in that subtle way guys do when they don't want anyone to know, and got out to leave. What struck me was that even as the credits were finishing, I was one of the first to go. As i walked up the aisle I realized that most of the nearly full cinema was still sitting quietly, without the usual post movie chatter - and more than half of the audience had tears pouring down their faces. I have never, ever witnessed that in a cinema.

Since then, i've watched it on DVD, and had to think a lot about why such a simple movie is so powerful, and so many people rate it as one of the greatest ever. And why i find myself agreeing with that rating, i truly think it is in the top 10 ever made - certainly the top 5 of any I've seen. But its hard at first to know why. It doesn't have the greatest script of any movie, there are few things in it that are truly original. The acting is great, but not the greatest ever seen, and the technical qualities are just average. I've come to the conclusion that the reason for its greatness is that it comes closest to pure art in cinema. By pure art, i mean art that in its simplicity but technical genius still reveals deep truths about our lives. When i think about Tokyo Story I don't find myself comparing it to other movies, instead I think of a Rembrandt self portrait, a Vermeer painting, or my favourite short story, 'The Dead' by James Joyce. It is simple, unadorned, and deeply wise. I realise in writing this I'm rapidly approaching pseuds corner, but this is my genuine conclusion (writing as someone who is shamefully uneducated in most of the arts).

Of course there have been many great movies about families, about growing old, about the nature of life.... but I think somehow Ozu achieved a sort of perfection with Tokyo Story. Thats why its the only movie I would give a '10' to.