Tokyo Story (1953)

Tokyo Story (1953)
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An old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city; but the children have little time for them.

Director: Yasujirô Ozu
Writers: Kôgo Noda, Yasujirô Ozu
Stars: Chishû Ryû, Chieko Higashiyama and Sô Yamamura

An elderly couple journey to Tokyo to visit their children and are confronted by indifference, ingratitude and selfishness. When the parents are packed off to a resort by their impatient children, the film deepens into an unbearably moving meditation on mortality Written by Paul Watabe
Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

An appreciation of this movie may demand some understanding of Japanese culture. The Japanese are rather reserved, and were even more reserved back in the early 1950's, when this film is set. No embracing, even of parents, children, siblings; no dramatic histrionics; even a death scene in this movie is much quieter than a Westerner might expect.

Consequently I can't really blame several reviewers here for calling this movie boring and slow-paced. But it is not at all slow-paced from a different cultural perspective. It just depends on what you're used to.

Tokyo Story is a 1953 Japanese film directed by Yasujiro Ozu. It tells the story of an aging couple who travel to Tokyo to visit their grown children. The film contrasts the behavior of their biological children, who are too busy to pay them much attention, and their daughter-in-law, who treats them with kindness. It is often regarded as Ozu's masterpiece, and has twice appeared in Sight & Sound magazine's 'Top Ten' list of the greatest films ever made.