Japan
1953
136 minutes
Black and White
1.33:1
Japanese
217
Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story (Tokyo Monogatari) follows an aging couple, Tomi and Sukichi, on their journey from their rural village to visit their two married children in bustling, postwar Tokyo. Their reception is disappointing: too busy to entertain them, their children send them off to a health spa. After Tomi falls ill she and Sukichi return home, while the children, grief-stricken, hasten to be with her. From a simple tale unfolds one of the greatest of all Japanese films. Starring Ozu regulars Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara, the film reprises one of the director’s favorite themes—that of generational conflict—in a way that is quintessentially Japanese and yet so universal in its appeal that it continues to resonate as one of cinema’s greatest masterpieces.
| Shukichi | Chishu Ryu |
| Tomi | Chieko Higashiyama |
| Noriko | Setsuko Hara |
| Koichi | So Yamamura |
| Kyoko | Kyoko Kagawa |
| Shige | Haruko Sugimura |
| Kurazo | Nobuo Nakamura |
| Ayako | Kuniko Miyake |
| Director | Yasujiro Ozu |
| Screenplay | Kogo Noda and Yasujiro Ozu |
| Cinematography | Yuharu Atsuta |
| Producer | Takeshi Yamamoto |
| Art direction | Tatsuo Hamada |
| Lighting | Itsuo Takashita |
| Editing | Yoshiyasu Hamamura |
| Music | Kojun Saito |
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:
Check out Chris Ware’s lovely tribute to Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story on the cover of the November/December Cinefamily calendar. The Cinefamily shows its eclectic (“exceptional, distinctive, weird, and wonderful”) programs at...
When Tokyo Story was released in late 1953, Western audiences were just being exposed to Japanese cinema. Akira Kurosawa had made his breakthrough with Rashomon three years earlier, and Kenji Mizoguchi was moving to the forefront of the international festival scene. In 1955...
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