Chishū Ryū and Chieko Higashiyama Rated U Run time 153 mins
An elderly couple travel to postwar Tokyo to visit their now grown children.
Little may appear to happen in terms of “action” and nothing of wider social or political significance seems to occur; yet such are Ozu’s quiet mastery and the actors performances that Tokyo Story melds time and memory, family and mortality, transience and regret in ways that few films even aspire too.
Placed third (behind only Vertigo and Citizen Kane) in the most recent Sight and Sound “100 Greatest Films of All Time” poll, this is a masterpiece even by Ozu’s astonishing standards.
100% – Rotten Tomatoes 8.2/10 – IMDB
“”Tokyo Story” (1953) lacks sentimental triggers and contrived emotion; it looks away from moments a lesser movie would have exploited. It doesn’t want to force our emotions, but to share its understanding. It does this so well that I am near tears in the last 30 minutes. It ennobles the cinema. It says, yes, a movie can help us make small steps against our imperfections.”
