Ozu's sad, simple story of generational conflict is often regarded as the filmmaker's greatest masterpiece.
An elderly couple's visit to various busy, self-absorbed offspring in Tokyo is met with indifference and ingratitude, only serving to reveal permanent emotional chasms.
Ozu's examination of the slow fracturing of the Japanese family is filled with quiet resignation, and the realization that tradition is subject to change.
The last scene - a wake and its aftermath - is one of the most petic ever filmed and Setsuko hara's performance when she receives a gift from her mother-in-law is heart-stopping.
Melancholic, spare and restrained, Tokyo Story is a meditation on life, love, and mortality. (Ozu Films)
Title: Tokyo Story | Tokyo monogatari (1953)
Directed by: Yasujiro Ozu
Date of birth: 12 December 1903, Tokyo, Japan
Date of death: 12 December 1963, Tokyo, Japan
Writing credits:
Kogo Noda, Yasujiro Ozu
Music by: Kojun Saitō
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Color: Black and White
Runtime: 136 min.