257. Tokyo Monogatari (Tokyo Story) (1953)

Directed By Yasujiro Ozu

Synopsis

An old couple goes to Tokyo to visit their son, daughter and the widow of their other son. All except for the widow are a bit to busy to take care of them and show them around. Eventually, feeling a bit of a burden, they go back to their town. The mother feels ill on the trip and a telegram is sent for the children, who arrive in time to see their mother die, they go back to their lives.

Review

First Portugal gets kicked out of the Euro, so to take my mind off it I go and watch Tokyo Story. Brilliant, what a great idea, I cried like a baby, really made my day. This is a great film, Ozu shows us all that normal life, when told with sensitivity and an eye for realism is just as interesting as the weirdest plot.

Look at the synopsis, nothing much happens for the 2 hours 15 minutes, still you are riveted, in an almost voyeuristic way, throughout. It is a little peek into normal lives, the fact that the camera is immobile and at tatami-level for most of the times helps the illusion of being a fly on the wall.

You learn about these people, you like some of them, dislike others, but none of them is a cardboard cut-out. Then, even if it is a very Japanese film, its themes are totally universal, we recognise the human reactions in the characters as our one or those of people we know well. Not a very hopeful film, but a calm, slow, beautifully written poignant and particularly brilliant film. All I have to do is put on Kurosawa's Ikiru and then I'll slit my wrists... what a day.

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

In Sight and Sound magazine's regular polls of directors and critics, Tokyo Story is regularly listed as one of the ten greatest films ever made. John Walker, editor of the Halliwell's Film Guides, places Tokyo Story at the top of his published list of the best 1000 films ever made. Tokyo Story is also included in film critic Derek Malcolm's The Century of Films, a list of films that Malcolm deems artistically or culturally important, and Time Magazine lists it among their All-Time 100 Movies. Roger Ebert includes it in his series of great movies.

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