Tokyo Story [Tôkyô monogatari] ***** (1953, Chishû Ryû, Chieko Higashiyama, Sô Yamamura) – Classic Movie Review 9669

The 1953 Japanese drama Tokyo Story [Tôkyô monogatari] is the glowing masterpiece that finally established the reputation of its director Yasujirô Ozu outside Japan. Quietly devastating, it is a moving and detailed study of the bonds of family life, of estrangement, reunion and generation gap. Written simply and subtly by Kôgo Noda and Yasujirô Ozu, it tells poignantly of eternal and universal truths.

Beautifully organised, shot with an intensely formal structure, and acted by an ensemble cast of the first order, this film is about two elderly parents Shukichi Hirayama and Tomi Hirayama (Chishû Ryû, Chieko Higashiyama) who make a unilateral decision to have an extended visit in Tokyo with their married adult children and their respective families (including two grandchildren) for the first time.

Their doctor son Kyôko Hirayama (Kyôko Kagawa) and beautician daughter Shige Kaneko (Haruko Sugimura) pretend to be pleased to see them, but they are busy and tactless, and the old couple go home resentful, only to meet with a greater tragedy.

Tokyo Story [Tôkyô monogatari] remains Ozu’s masterwork and is a high point of world cinema.

The main cast are Chishû Ryû, Chieko Higashiyama, Sô Yamamura, Setsuko Hara, Haruko Sugimura, Shiro Osaka, Hisao Toake, and Kyôko Kagawa.

It is shot by Yuharu Atsuta in black and white. It runs 136 minutes.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9669

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