Black and White . 144 minutes

Shochiku Ofuna Studio

Written By
Ozu Yasujiro
Noda Kogo

Cinematography
Atsuta Yuharu

Music By
Satio Kojun


Cast
Ryu Chishu (Hirayama Shukichi)
Higashiyama Chieko (Tomi)
Hara Setsuko (Noriko)
Sugimura Haruko (Kaneko Shige)
Nakamura Nobuo (Kaneko)
Yamamura So (Koichi)
Mijake Kuniko (Ayako)
Kagawa Kyoko (Kyoko)
Tono Eijiro (Numata Sanpei)
Osaka Shiro (Keizo)
Murase Zen (Minoru)
Mori Mitsuhiro (Isamu)

Synopsis
The elderly Hirayama Shukichi and his wife Tomi leave Onomichi to visit their children in Tokyo. Their son Koichi and his wife soon tire of them and send them to stay with their daughter Shige. Shige packs them off to a hot spring in Atami. However, the resort is full of boisterous guests and the Hirayamas cannot relax. So they return to Tokyo to find somewhere to spend the night. The only person who shows them kindness and hospitality is their daughter-in-law Noriko, whose husband (their son) has gone missing during the war. On their way back, Tomi falls ill and shortly after they return to Onomichi, she passes away.

Thoughts from Ozu
I tried to represent the collapse of the Japanese family system through showing children growing up. The melodramatic element in Tokyo Story is one of the strongest in my works.

Personal Thoughts and Comments
Widely considered among the greatest films in the history of Japanese cinema, Ozu's 1953 Tokyo Story stands as a true masterpiece of filmmaking. Tokyo Story is a reflective film about morals, selfishness, and youth's treatment (or mistreatment) of the elderly. But it's also a deeply moving love story, while never being manipulative or over-sentimental as Ozu achieves the most moving emotions through his trademark simplistic style. The film's final moments and images represent the power of love, and the need for human connection in a way that is unforgettably sad - captured through Ozu's transcendent cinematic language and of course Setsuko Hara's stunning performance. Every single shot is beautifully and expressively composed and Tokyo Story may feature Ozu's most prominent use of his defining "pillow shots". At the core this is a film of the inevitability of life changing and the transcient acceptance of this inevitability. This is expressed in both the changes of a postwar Japanese society and more specifically of the family. By presenting these daily life cycles and changes through generations of a family, Ozu has created a film that is widely universal and transcendent. It is the ordinary routines that can hide the sadness of life, but it is the willingness to accept sadness and change as part of the life cycle. Life does goes on and Tokyo Story understands and accepts this as something that must be. Ultimately the film captures this in the end as the family has been destroyed and we come back full circle to where it began. Tokyo Story is one of the most moving films ever made. It understandings and complexities of human emotion and behavior is flawless and under the minimalist direction of Ozu's style as well as the superb performances by his cast, Tokyo Story emerges as one of the truly great film achievements in the history of world cinema. A classic film to cherish and to revisit.