Tokyo Story by Yasujiro Ozu :: Japan Japanese Film Cinema Movies

Tokyo Story was directed by Yasujiro Ozu and released in Japan in 1953. It is about an old married couple that travels to Tokyo to visit their children. They are greeted warmly, but are treated as if they are just an annoying sidetrack from the childrens’ busy lives. The mother becomes ill and dies soon after they return home, leaving the family to reflect on her visit. Some striking scenes include the grandmother dreaming of her future during a walk with her grandson, the old couple’s visit to a spa, and three old men discussing the failure of the future generations. The subject matter of the story consists of a social commentary on Japanese middle-class family life and more acutely, an examination of human mortality, alienation, and modernity. The main contention of Ozu’s unique style of directing is the importance of mutually supportive formal and stylistic systems, a contention that is absent from the classical Hollywood films of this period. Whereas in most of the movies of this time the stylistic aspects would be subordinate to the narrative, the systemics of Ozu coexist independently of one another. This inimitable quality of Tokyo Story can be reflected on through the examination of continuity, transition, and the discretion of the non-diegetic filmic properties. The consideration of these elements suggests that a stylistically driven film can succeed regardless of the degree of narrative motivation. The freedom of the stylistic system to not be dependent on the narrative creates the distinctive spatial and temporal aspects of Tokyo Story. The intentional discontinuity of the diegetic world is accomplished mainly by the use of non-traditional editing. Ozu’s disregard of the necessity of respecting the conventions of the graphic match and the 180- degree line contribute to the originality of the film. For example, one of the opening sequences in the movie is a conversation between the married couple that deliberately cuts back and forth over the 180-degree line in each successive shot. The effect of this technique is that each character achieves perpendicularity with the camera, which creates the illusion that the characters are speaking directly to the audience. This contributes to the viewer’s involvement in the world created in front of the camera. Another example is the introductory dialogue between the old couple and their daughter’s family. An entirely different style was employed for this scene in which every character is in the frame at once. Ozu conveys through this scene his ability to layout a complex shot construction and perform scene manipulation. Despite the seeming disregard for the typical continuity, driven by eye-line matches and montage, this film achieves a stylistic originality and independence that complements the narrative rather