Movie Masterworks

“Take care of your parents while they are alive. You cannot help them from beyond the grave.”

Synopsis: Yasujiro Ozu’s ‘TOKYO STORY’ follows an aging couple, Tomi and Sukichi, on their journey from their rural village to visit their two married children in bustling, post-war 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 universal in its appeal.

Critique: Beneath the placid surfaces of Yasujiro Ozu’s cinema lies a persistent and despondent acknowledgment of life’s brutal brevity. Children grow up quickly, moving out of the house and starting families of their own, while the grandparents are left helplessly pondering their mortality in the vibrantly youthful personage of their grandchildren. As a result, these characters lead lives not in the pursuit of happiness, but simply in a flurry of activity designed to stave off thoughts of dying until the tyranny of old age makes it absolutely unavoidable. But while Ozu’s cinema doesn’t necessarily brim with reassuring themes, it is supremely life affirming for its brilliantly minimalist craft and gentle humanism. Comprising mostly static set-ups that highlight the director’s mastery of composition, Ozu’s films make up for their dearth of action with a wealth of subtext hidden in the silences. These are works that defy authoritative interpretation because they attain resonance through the outside emotional baggage brought to them by the viewer. Though his films are famously daunting for their long stretches of inaction, they are boring only to those who have never felt. In Ozu’s world, it is the audience’s point of view that is of primary importance, not the filmmaker’s, which is why his masterpiece, Tokyo Story (1953), is often hailed as one of the greatest films of all time. At the peak of his empathic powers, Ozu says more about life in that one movie than most artists can hope to articulate in their entire career.

—Clarence Beaks

My thoughts: After watching Tokyo Story, I called my parents just to hear their voices and talk about the weather. It was one of the last times I was able to speak to my mother for she passed away a few months later.