Tokyo Story

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Ken H A classic masterpiece of Japanese cinema. Two lines of dialog at the end of the film summed it up nicely for me: "Life is disappointing, isn't it?" "Yes, it is". Poignant realism. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/25/25 Full Review Virgo V Tokyo Story (Tōkyō Monogatari) is a 1953 Japanese drama film directed and written by Yasujirō Ozu. It stars Chishū Ryū, Chieko Higashiyama, Setsuko Hara, Kyōko Kagawa, Haruko Sugimura, So Yamamura, Kuniko Miyake, Shirō Ōsaka, Eijirō Tōno, Nobuo Nakamura, Hisao Toake and Toru Abe. It was produced by Takeshi Yamamoto. It was distributed and produced by Shochiku Company, Limited. Upon release, it did not immediately gain international recognition and was considered "too Japanese" to be marketable by Japanese film exporters. It was screened in 1957 in London, where it won the inaugural Sutherland Trophy the following year and received praise from U.S. film critics after a 1972 screening in New York City. The following year Haruko Sugimura won the Mainichi Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the eldest daughter Shige. German director Doris Dörrie drew inspiration from Tokyo Story for her 2008 film Cherry Blossoms, which follows a similar storyline. In 2013, Yōji Yamada remade the film as Tōkyō Kazoku. Vision wrote: “they must travel a distance from the country to the city. Chishū Ryū and Chieko Higashiyama, an aging couple, travel to Tokyo to visit their grown children. A little dull and stretched out like most Japanese films and that’s why I wouldn’t even consider it as one of the greatest films of all time. This film does fairly well when it comes to the intricacies of life experiences, especially in old age. The film is a take on life in Tokyo during the period after the war when all has been sacrificed. The twilight years of an elderly couple with a medium-to-large family. A film about relationships, about time and how it affects human beings. A universal masterpiece. Three and a half fries for the cinematography, direction and screenplay.” Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 07/25/25 Full Review Stephen C Success in 2 hours and 14 minutes!!!!!!!! In Japanese and English versions with English subtitles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/07/25 Full Review Grant L Absolutely extraordinary. Very quiet but achingly real with what may be the single most bittersweet yet true line spoken at the end of any movie (won’t spoil it) and of course Setsuko Hara is radiant, personifying the deep and innate humanity and decency that post-war Japan so desperately needed to find within itself. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/11/24 Full Review Kevin L Yasujirō Ozu film about family dynamics and how our view of our parents change once we are grown with our own family and busy schedules. Visiting parents become almost like a burden we must find ways to entertain or occupy while we go on with our own time consuming routines. It isn't that our lives keep us too busy for our families. It's that we have arranged them to protect us from having to deal with big questions of love, work and death. Given the opportunity with family to share our hopes, concerns, joys and disappointments, we escape into truisms, small talk and distractions. 3.6 stars Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 11/29/24 Full Review Richard B I have no idea why this is held in such high regard. It’s a very plain story told in a very plain way. I’ve nothing against slow films but this is glacial - 50% of the dialog is just people agreeing with each other! Very mixed acting - the father being almost pantomime. If you’re in the mood for classic Japanese cinema watch some Kurosawa instead… Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 06/20/24 Full Review Read all reviews

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