Release date: 3rd November 1953
Run time: 136 minutes
Certificate: U
Yasujirō Ozu’s familial masterpiece is a deep and moving drama. The film revels in the mundaneness of everyday life, within families and wider society, and invites the audience to watch as silent observers, akin to a fly on the wall. Set in post-war Japan in the early 1950s, an elderly couple visit their children in Tokyo. The drama unfolds from there, but expect no huge twists or turns, no definitive moments of action. This is a muted film in the very best way, subdued thanks to Ozu’s trademark style yet still achieving emotional weight and strong social commentary.
There are clear moments in Tokyo Story that carry great emotion, but they are never stuffed in the audience’s face. Instead these moments integrate into the film seamlessly without glaring lights signalling their importance. The emotions on show are not melodramatic; they are realistic, different for each character on screen, mirroring real life to perfection. The audience in turn experience emotions that feel very honest and internalised. This is testament to the actors’ performances, each realistic to an unfaltering degree. Setsuko Hara as Noriko (the daughter-in-law whose husband died during the Second World War) captures the loneliness of society perfectly, still alone seven years after her husband’s death. She also treats her mother and father-in-law better than their own children, showing her decency as well as the other childrens’ unconscious selfishness and preoccupation with their own lives. Chishū Ryū and Chieko Higashiyama give simple performances as the father and mother respectively, carrying a wonderful sense of calm and wisdom in their old age, however cynical the latter may be. The cast work perfectly as an ensemble, as a family comfortable yet often strained in each other’s company, but also as separate characters, all experiencing different contemplative journeys.
The performances are backed up by dialogue that are often mundane but are accurate to real life conversations. Zippy dialogue from contemporary writers like Quentin Tarantino are thoroughly entertaining and a joy to observe, but in many ways lack the realism that Ozu and Kōgo Noda achieve with their screenplay. At times it may be more difficult to watch than a Tarantino film but it is an experience ultimately more rewarding.
Realism creeps further into Ozu’s direction too. Bar one moving shot, all other images are static and most are filmed from a point only 2 feet off the floor, further amplifying the silent observer style of the camera and audience. Such techniques became Ozu’s trademark, marking him as a director depicting a post-war society with resolute accuracy. When characters speak, they are filmed face-on, often looking just to the side of the camera; the audience are in the middle of their conversations but again are only their to observe. The influence of Ozu’s direction in various directors’ works is clear. Jonathan Demme almost exclusively uses face-on filming, albeit in a more extreme way, in films such as Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Philadelphia (1993).
Tokyo Story is a deep film that comments on post-war Japanese society. Focussing on the importance of a getting and maintaining a good job in the years following the war as well as the further industrialisation of the society, it comments on each theme in an impactful and open manner. It does not say which aspects are good or bad, it merely comments. The pressure of the society is examined further in a microcosm of the Hirayama family and what is expected of children as they grow older. Ozu presents and combines these themes in an extremely adept way, creating a film that achieves perfection as a social commentary.
As it nears it’s 70th anniversary, this landmark film is a piece of work so naturalistic and human that it stands as a testament to how effective films can be in terms of connecting with audiences. It may have specificities to post-war Japan but there are numerous parallels to be drawn with other societies, modern or otherwise. Tokyo Story is rightfully regarding as one of the greatest films of all time and will remain as such for another 70 years, if not longer.
5/5
A beautifully subdued masterpiece from Yasujiro Ozu, a film rich in social commentary and unfaltering naturalism.