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I’m going to be honest here and just tell you up front that I don’t want to write about this movie. Not because it’s bad, quite the opposite, but because words cannot do justice to this movie. This is not a movie you can just pop in, kick back and enjoy, this is a movie that takes devotion. You have to be willing to pay attention, to let yourself get sucked into the lives of the characters, and ultimately be faced with some harsh truths about yourself. It’s like looking into a mirror. Not just glancing into a mirror to tidy up your hair, but to really gaze at your own flaws. In fact, this movie does everything that a movie really should do, everything that movies don’t do anymore; it makes you feel.

Yasujiro Ozu is one of the all time great directors. He worked at the same time as the other Japanese masters, Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, and Kon Ichikawa. Japanese cinema became enormously popular in America with the release of Kurosawa’s Rashomon in 1951. Of the four directors, Kurosawa has always been the most popular here in the states, his films are essential for any real movie buff. In recent years, however, we have seen a rise in popularity of the other three. This is mostly because of the great people at The Criterion Collection who strive to release the very best of world cinema. Ozu’s films in particular, are becoming more and more popular, and more widely available. In all honesty, this is only the second Ozu film that I have seen, following Floating Weeds, but you can be sure that I will do my best to see them all, and I recommend that you do the same.

The plot of Tokyo Story is deceptively simple. An elderly couple leave their youngest daughter, who is probably at least 18, at home while they take a train to Tokyo to visit their other children. During the visit their children, who have families of their own, constantly strive to find things to do with their parents while trying to work around their own busy schedules. After a few days, the children send their parents to an expensive hotel on the beach. The parents realize that their children just don’t have the time to devote to being with them, and they decide to go back home. Once they return home, a family emergency occurs that forces the children to make a journey back home. This is essentially all that happens, yet the film has more to it than the most complex narratives that Hollywood tries to produce.

Ozu’s direction only adds to the simplicity. If you know nothing about Ozu, the first thing that will strike you is the fact that he never moves his camera. Roger Ebert, in his Great Movies review of this film, says that Ozu only moves his camera once in Tokyo Story. I don’t want to disagree with Ebert, but I would swear that I noticed it move twice, but you see what I’m getting at, this is not conventional filmmaking. The actors often speak directly into the camera, making the audience feel as if we are there. The performances and dialogue of an Ozu film are made to seem completely natural. There is never a hint of melodrama to remind us that we are watching actors performing a scene. We simply witness a family living out their lives, and we feel helpless because we can’t intervene.

Still-water always runs deep, and this simple story has more to it than you could ever expect. The movie makes observations about the nature of family life that are almost unbearably painful. It’s almost ironic how human our lives eventually come full circle. When we are children, we are utterly dependent on our parents for everything. We need their love and support. Eventually we get older and become parents ourselves, and in the end we depend on the love and support of our own children, we’re just too proud to admit the fact. Maybe our parents expect too much of us, maybe we will expect too much from our own children, but unless we are willing to take the time to share our feelings, all that we are left with is heartache and disappointment. In the end, life always catches up to us, and unless we realize what is truly important, we will spend eternity full of regret.

If I haven’t praised this film enough, let me just say that this is one of maybe three films that I fully believe can help us to be better people, the other two are Akira Kurosawa’s Ikiruand Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves. Lavish praise, I know, but if you are patient and willing, this film will leave a lasting impression on your heart. There is one piece of dialogue in particular that I will never forget, the youngest daughter turns to her sister-in-law and says “Isn’t life disappointing?,” the sister-in-law replies with a smile, “Yes, it is.”

Tokyo Story has been growing in popularity over the last five decades. Recently it was named one of the ten greatest films ever made by Sight & Sound magazine. The Criterion Collection has honored the film by giving the DVD a deluxe two disc treatment loaded with special features including a two hour documentary on the life of Ozu, and a 40 minute featurette with modern directors like Paul Schrader and Wim Wenders talking about the impact that Ozu had on them. The only complaint I have about the DVD, is that the subtitles are a little too light, and they can sometimes get lost in the picture. Other than this, I have no quarrel with this or any Criterion release. To be honest, I don’t see myself ever buying this film, it’s not something that I will watch on a repeated basis. My suggestion is to rent the movie. It probably won’t be available at your local video store, but with the slew of online rental companies, and the very undervalued Public Library System, I don’t see much of a problem in finding the film. The film is not action packed, it is slow, it is deliberate, and it doesn’t make for a relaxed, mindlessly entertaining viewing experience, but if you give it a chance you’ll be surprised by how much you gain from it.