Tokyo monogatari

Tōkyō monogatari (in Spain: Tales of Tokyo and Journey to Tokyo , in Argentina: Tokyo Stories; in Japanese: 東京物語 Tōkyō monogatari) is a Japanese film from 1953 directed by Yasujirō Ozu and starring Chishu Ryu and Chieko Higashiyama. It is considered one of the author's most important works and is often cited as one of the best films ever made.

Ozu and screenwriter Kogo Noda wrote the script in 103 days, and it was loosely based on the 1937 American film Make Way For Tomorrow, directed by Leo McCarey. It was Noda who suggested the film adaptation, as Ozu had not yet seen it. Ozu hired many of the actors and crew members who had worked with him for years. In 1953 it was released in Japan, however, it did not gain recognition and was considered "too Japanese" to be commercialized. Later, in 1957, it was screened in London and a year later, it won the first edition of the Sutherland Trophy, receiving praise from film critics in the United States, after to be shown in New York City in 1972.

In 2012, it was voted the greatest film of all time in a poll of film directors by Sight & Sound.

Plot

From left to right: Kōichi (So Yamamura), Fumiko (Kuniko Miyake), Shūkichi (Chishū Ryū), Noriko (Setsuko Hara), Shige (Haruko Sugimura) and Tomi (Chieko Higashiyama).

Tokyo Tales tells the story of elderly parents, originally from Onomichi, who visit their children living in Tokyo. The former, from rural Japan, are somewhat shunned by their children, who are too busy to pay attention to them. But the attitude of her children contrasts with the behavior of her widowed daughter-in-law, who treats them with affection. Humanity evolves so quickly that an abyss is created between the generations that keeps them cut off from each other.

Cast

Production

The script was developed by Yasujiro Ozu and his regular collaborator, Kogo Noda, over a period of 103 days at an inn in Chigasaki. Ozu, Noda, and cinematographer Yūharu Atsuta scouted locations in Tokyo and Onomichi before shooting began. Filming and editing of the film took place between July and October 1953.

Style and theme

Like all of Ozu's talkies, Tokyo Tales has a slow pace. Important events are often not shown on the screen, but are revealed through the dialogues. It has a distinctive use of the camera, and that is that the height is low and it hardly ever moves. Film critic Roger Ebert noted that the camera only moves once in the film and that it is more than is normal for an Ozu film. The low position of the camera also evokes the traditional way of sitting on tatami mats for the Japanese.

The film's theme includes the breakup and westernization of the traditional Japanese family after World War II, and the inevitable breakup of children who grew up separated from their parents. The film is set in post-war Japan (1953), a few years after the new Civil Code of 1948 favored the country's growth towards Western capitalist ideals, while bringing about the simultaneous destruction of older traditions, such as the Japanese family values. Ozu considered Tales from Tokyo, as one of the most melodramatic films.

Awards