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“Isn’t life disappointing?” Quite a question, and it gets a profound answer in Ozu’s highly influential mega-masterpiece, Tokyo Story, which has long been considered one of the greatest films of all time for a simple reason… it is.The plot is simplicity itself: an aging couple come to the big city to see their grown children, maybe for the last time. The connection just isn’t there. The miracle of Ozu—in this film, certainly, but also in so many others—is to take stillness and find depth, to create empathy and understanding for the characters and ourselves. His camera rarely moves, yet it is always searching.
The film benefits immensely from some seriously deep performances by Chishû Ryû and Chieko Higashiyama as the elderly parents, and ever-radiant Ozu regular Setsuko Hara, one of the great screen presences of the 20th century, as their widowed daughter-in-law.
As Roger Ebert said, “Tokyo Story 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 ennobles the cinema. It says, yes, a movie can help us make small steps against our imperfections.”
Tokyo Story was named the 4th-greatest film of all time by Sight & Sound in its 2022 poll, behind Jeanne Dielman (playing earlier the same day in The Screening Room), Citizen Kane, and Vertigo. Pretty solid company.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
60 Lake Street, Suite 1C, Burlington, VT, United States, Vermont 05401
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