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【Amazon.co.jp限定】 「東京物語」 小津安二郎生誕110年・ニューデジタルリマスター(「蓼科日記 抄」付き) [Blu-ray]
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商品の説明
【Amazon.co.jp限定】
小津安二郎生誕110年(没後50年)、野田高梧生誕120年(没後45年)にあたる2013年を期して出版された、限定2500部発行の希少な書籍『蓼科日記 抄』と、小津・野田による共同脚本作品『東京物語』(1953)のブルーレイをセットにして販売!
■『蓼科日記 抄』とは…
蓼科高原の野田高梧山荘(雲呼荘)に置かれていた日記帳から、野田・小津のシナリオ創作過程、交友関係、山里の人々との交流を精選して編纂された、映画ファン垂涎の文献。 「小津安二郎自画像」をはじめ、図版・写真も多数収録した、〈今に残る小津安二郎最後の未公開一次資料〉!!
小津が書いた文と挿絵はすべて収録してありますので、蓼科で小津が書き付けた全文を前後関係、人物相関を参照しつつ読むことができます。さらに原寸カラー口絵、初お目見えのモノクロ写真も多数収録されており、読んで見て面白い、映画ファンには垂涎の一冊となっています。
■『東京物語』(Blu-ray)小津安二郎生誕110年・ニューデジタルリマスターについて
・本編は4Kスキャニングによるデジタル修復を実施した放送用HDマスター(2012年NHK BSで初放送)を、さらにブラッシュアップした、2013年ベルリン国際映画祭Berlinale Classics部門で上映された最新のニューデジタルリマスターを使用。スキャニングしたひとコマひとコマを丁寧に傷消しや色調整を行い、映画館の大画面で上映するデジタルデータから本マスターを作成しています。
本マスター制作にあたり撮影チーフ助手を務めた川又昻氏が監修し、小津監督の狙いを忠実に、1カット1カット丁寧に画調を再現しています。サウンドも同様に、当時の狙いを忠実に監督助手を3本務めた田中康義氏監修のもと、松竹の修復をすべて手掛けている清水和法氏が修復を担当しています。
・本編には、英語字幕・日本語字幕も収録! さらに、笠智衆・川又昴(撮影助手)・斉藤武市(助監督)・白井佳夫(映画評論家)による貴重なオーディオ・コメンタリー(1984年に収録したもの)を収録!
・10年に一度行われる、世界の映画監督が選ぶ"世界一の映画"に選出!
・小津映画の集大成ともいえる作品
ローポジション、カメラの固定、人物の正面からの撮影など、「小津調」とも形容される独自の技法を用いながら、親子関係を淡々と描いた本作は、戦後すぐの作品でありながら、今日の家族問題に通じるテーマも多く含んだ“普遍的な家族の物語"であり、公開から60年近く経った現在でも、不朽の名作として世界中で愛され続けている。
<ストーリー>
尾道に住む老夫婦、周吉ととみが東京で暮らす子供達を訪れるために上京する。子供達は久しぶりの再会で2人を歓迎するが、それぞれ家庭の都合もあり、構ってばかりはいられない。結局、戦死した次男の嫁、紀子が2人の世話をすることになる。老夫婦は子供達がすっかり変わってしまったことに気づくのであった。
<映像特典>
◆特報・予告
◆オーディオコメンタリー:笠智衆・川又昴(撮影助手)・斉藤武市(助監督)・白井佳夫(映画評論家)※1984年収録
◆日本語字幕/英語字幕も収録
<商品仕様>
◆【Amazon.co.jp限定】「蓼科日記 抄」付き
(※「蓼科日記 抄」:2013年7月23日 限定2500部発行、3,800円(税抜)、発売:㈱小学館スクウェア)
※「東京物語」小津安二郎生誕110年・ニューデジタルリマスタ―には、 アウターケース・ブックレットなどの特典は付いておりません。
また、商品仕様や特典は変更になる場合がございます。
尚、下記商品に付属している「蓼科日記 抄」はすべて同じ内容となっておりますのでご注意下さい。
・【Amazon.co.jp限定】 「東京物語」 小津安二郎生誕110年・ニューデジタルリマスター(「蓼科日記 抄」付き) [Blu-ray](EAN: 4988105102521)
・【Amazon.co.jp限定】 「秋刀魚の味」 小津安二郎生誕110年・ニューデジタルリマスター(「蓼科日記 抄」付き) [Blu-ray](EAN: 4988105102538)
・【Amazon.co.jp限定】 「彼岸花」 小津安二郎生誕110年・ニューデジタルリマスター(「蓼科日記 抄」付き) [Blu-ray](EAN: 4988105102545)
・【Amazon.co.jp限定】 「秋日和」 小津安二郎生誕110年・ニューデジタルリマスター(「蓼科日記 抄」付き) [Blu-ray](EAN: 4988105102552)
・【Amazon.co.jp限定】 「お早よう」 小津安二郎生誕110年・ニューデジタルリマスター(「蓼科日記 抄」付き) [Blu-ray](EAN: 4988105102569)
登録情報
- 言語 : 日本語
- 製品サイズ : 30 x 10 x 20 cm; 1 kg
- EAN : 4988105102521
- 監督 : 小津安二郎
- メディア形式 : 限定版, モノ, 字幕付き
- 時間 : 2 時間 15 分
- 発売日 : 2013/8/28
- 出演 : 笠智衆, 東山千栄子, 原節子, 杉村春子, 山村聰
- 字幕: : 日本語, 英語
- 販売元 : 松竹
- ASIN : B00EEYC3EE
- ディスク枚数 : 1
- Amazon 売れ筋ランキング: - 36,922位DVD (DVDの売れ筋ランキングを見る)
- カスタマーレビュー:
-
トップレビュー
上位レビュー、対象国: 日本
レビューのフィルタリング中に問題が発生しました。後でもう一度試してください。
これは事実。
夫婦が他人同士である証拠。
深い。やっぱり世代を超えた映画は深い。
極めて日本的な映画だが、世界中の映画監督が最高の映画だと評価する東京物語。以前に観たときより、60歳を過ぎた今の方が感動することを発見した。世界中の映画監督にも家族があり、自らも年老いていく。そのため、人物像の対比で浮き彫りになる親子関係が心に刺さるのだろう。
主人公はおそらく60代後半から70代前半。その妻は68歳でこの世を去る。50代で定年を迎え、残りの人生が十数年の時代の物語だ。これが人生100年時代と寿命が伸びる中、主人公の年齢を10年、20年シフトしたとしたら、また別の東京物語となっただろう。
東京物語には元ネタがあることをはじめて知った。アメリカのレオ・マッケリー監督による『明日は来らず』(Make Way for Tomorrow)がそれだ。老夫婦の自宅が売却され、子供たちに別々に引き取られて離れるという物語だという。東京物語は極めて日本的映画と前述したが、このテーマは国境を意識させない普遍的なテーマだ。主人公の年代に近い60代になってから観る東京物語は、格別な感動がある。
懺悔だが、私は昔この映画を見た時、時の流れと世代の移り、老いたる者はいつも悲しい。と言うような主題しか見て取れず、男女の求め合う恋愛や、戦争やスポーツなどでの自分の正義と勝利のために戦う姿も無く、高い評価は出来なかった。静かな展開の作品である。
今回、もう一度、なぜ本作がここまで評価が高いのか、丁寧に見て、自分なりに分かったのは、本レビューのタイトルとおりである。昔は感じられなかった主題。紀子は老夫婦に、女神か御仏のような笑顔でずっと接し、優しくしてあげる。まるで「義理の親に気に入られたい」と、必死であるかのようにも見えるほどだ。もう夫はずっと昔に戦争で、亡くなっているのに。
本作は、紀子の亡き夫への、激しいというより強い強い愛を秘かに、強烈な重さで描いた名作である。夫は遺影として少し出てくるばかり。アップ遺影にすらならない。何年間の結婚生活を送り、それがどれほど楽しかったか、この世に生を受けた喜びを感じたものだったか、戦死を知らされた悲しみが、幾ばかりだったか、本作では一切語られない。だが分かる。
本作は終盤で、義理の母が、結果的には命を懸けた東京旅行で、「いい人を見つけて再婚しておくれ」と心から願う。紀子は「私は年を取らない事にしてますの」などと言ってやんわりと受け流す。この言葉は「一生を亡き夫と過ごすつもりだ」という言葉の同義でもあるのだろう。
義母が無くなり、帰り際、義理の妹(香川京子)との会話で「子供は、いつか親を離れていくものよ」などと諭している。この言葉は「時の流れの中で、妻も亡き夫を忘れていくものかもしれない…」というようなハレーションを、心の中で起こしたように思える。(ここはテクニカルに上手い演出だ)。
そして義理の父(笠智衆)からも、再婚を心から勧められ、紀子はこらえきれなくなり、それまで天使か御仏のように常に笑顔だったのを止め、両手を顔に当てて号泣する。「私はズルいんです」「夫の事を思い出さない日もあります」などと自分を激しく責める。どれだけ強い気持ちで、「もう亡き夫以外は愛さない」と決めていたのだろうか。ここでこの映画がひた隠してきた純愛と言うテーマが一瞬、見て取れるという寸法だった。
「カサブランカ」という映画で、ハンフリーボガートが、イングリッドバーグマンと過ごした短いパリの生活を忘れられず生きていく主人公と言う設定があり、そのパリでの日々の短いシーンが、若き日の幸せな恋愛として、印象深く描かれている。私は、「そのシーンすらカットしたのが東京物語なのだ」と思った。
私はこの映画を、自分の中でベスト10とか、ベスト30には出来ないが、「特別枠」の超旧作の名作賞とか、主題が最も隠された敢闘賞とか、ランキングとは別枠の名作に置かせて頂きたいなと思った。非常に感動した次第である。
ドラマのストーリーや時代背景に評価要素は、あるにはあるのですが(他の方のレビューで指摘)、
名作と言える最も評価されるところは、やはり「独特の描画技法」でしょう。
静寂で落ち着いた、独特の時間の流れ、人々の会話の間。
空間の作り方、人の表情を追い方、丁寧なカットの描写、積み上げ。
どのシーンでも、”一から描写をコツコツ積み上げ、心象表現に生かしていく技法”。
この技法は、小津安二郎独特で天才的。どのシーンを見せられても、この描写力で
小津安二郎だとわかる。モーツァルトの楽曲を聴くと、すぐにモーツァルトとわかるのと同じ。
多分、外国の方が観ると、日本画、浮世絵などに繋がるイメージを感じられるのだと思う。
町医者の家のシーンでも、玄関、診察室、廊下、縁側、部屋のみのカットをしつこいくらい挿入。
人物描写と重ねて、じわじわ脳裏にイメージを刻まれてしまう。
最後、尾道のシーンでも、海を行き交う船、路地を歩く子供たち、学校で響く子供たちの歌声。
児童の落し物を拾い上げ、義理の姉の汽車の時間を気にする。通りがかりのご近所さんとの朴訥な会話。
丁寧な説明描画を積み重ね、残された心優しい老人と娘の明るい未来を暗示する。
葬式の直後でも、何という幸福感溢れるエンディング! この素晴らしさ。
「静」の描写で天才的な小津だが、現代の映像技術を使うと小津ならどう表現するのだろう?
と、ふと考えてしまった、日本が生んだ世界の巨匠、是非、皆さんに鑑賞していただきたい。★5つ以外なし。
ここのところも特に日本映画にのめりこみ、感動が多い。
では、国内のベスト映画は?というのが気になり見る。
小津監督のこの「東京物語」は、これだけ膨大な数の映画
の中から、某キネマベストや個人映画ベスト等にも必ず
この映画が上位にある。
小津監督と言えばトーキーは20本くらいで、そのうちー
原節子さんのものは6、7本。20本は手に負えるくらいな
のでもうほとんど見てしまったー
それで思うのは、小津さんの中だけでも何も「東京物語」
を一位とするかな?と思う。もっと、「盛り上がり」に
ついては他があるし。。題名の「物語」というほどでない。
もう一つ欲を言えば、老夫婦のどちらもしゃべりテンポが
少し遅すぎ、眠くなってしまう。
(後記: 「物語」の件、 しかし周吉は東京では同級生にも
会っているし、私の記憶ちがいで、長男は大阪と思っていた
が東京で、四案やはり「物語」までなっているかも)
さて、この「東京物語」の大すじはー。尾道に住むある
老夫婦(笠智衆・東山千栄子)に子どもらもみなよい年
かっこうになり長女夫婦、長男夫婦、次男嫁、三男、次女
とそれぞれの地に暮らしています。
老夫婦は20年ぶりの一大決心にてぞぞれの子たちの家を
めぐり東京まで行くこととしました。
途中、大阪では三男(大坂四郎)にも会えた。
東京で長男夫婦(山村聡・三宅邦子)の家では。長男は町医者
をしているが、せっかくの翌日東京めぐりを前からの往診の
仕事がつづいて入る。(それくらいすぐに返ってこれそうなが
・・ちょうど仕事 のような。。)
長女夫婦の(杉村春子・中村伸郎)長女は美容院で、何だか
性格的に忙しいそうな。(ところを演じている)
それで別のところへ追い出すような?カンジで宿お泊り券まで
渡します。~しかし、宿は騒音うるさかったなぁ。。
(しかし老夫婦のとみは何でも感謝するけなげな女性でしたね)
東京で唯一、次男の嫁(原節子)のみが時間をさいてくれて優
しくいろいろ東京を案内してくれます。(まあ、嫁という立場
もありますか、、しかしもう夫のいない義親にー現実そうで
ない人もいますし・・) この嫁の応対が結局一番深くの老い
夫婦の思い出になったでしょうか。それが「東京物語」。
老い夫婦が東京から帰省し、すぐに とみが無理があったか?
(さわがしい旅館も兆候)亡くなります。まあ最後に東京案内
した次男嫁(原節子) に疑いなどはありませんことが、ここは
人情物語ですので・・ゆめゆめ。
小津監督ー原節子コンビのベストは、人によりまだ感動する
他の映画を指されると思いますね。(^_^.)
他の国からのトップレビュー



la obra maestra de Yasujiro Ozu es de visión obligatoria para cualquier persona que ame el buen cine.

Ozu's greatness is evidenced by a staggeringly high level of consistency throughout his output from his early silents to his final austere masterworks. None of his films are revered more than Tokyo Story and its release here is as good as it's ever likely to be. A fire destroyed the original negative and only second-rate copies stay in existence - hence the poor quality compared with other Ozu of this period. Still, the b/w images are crisp and the sound sharp. Not having a Blu-ray player I can't comment on the first disc, but the DVD is certainly very good. The support feature is The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family which has been chosen by BFI because it has the same theme of generation conflict and people being spurned within their own families. In Tokyo Story the grandparents are pushed from pillar to post, none of their unloving children wanting to take care of them. In Toda Family it is the grandmother and the unmarried daughter who get the treatment. The quality of the original transfer of Toda Family, alas, isn't top notch. There's a lot of surface noise, especially when reels are changed with volume drop outs and surface scratching. Even though BFI have obviously done the best they can with the original source the picture quality is blurry at best. That said it is still watchable and we can see that it's a wonderful film which in its own way is as good as Tokyo Story, in fact providing a very thought-provoking contrast. The earlier film reflects the optimism of pre-Pearl Harbor Japan when the war was still going their way, while the later masterpiece is pregnant with the air of defeat and post-war melancholy. BFI have released the 2 discs with a decent booklet carrying a useful article by Joan Mellen, a reaction to Tokyo Story by NFT programmer John Gillet, full cast details and a brief biography of Ozu by Tony Rayns. I have one slight caveat concerning the complete lack of extras. Tokyo Story consistently appears in experts' Top 10s and for a film of this stature surely a commentary (by someone informed about Ozu and Japanese culture) is in order. Nevertheless, this issue is strongly recommended - essential viewing in fact.
Before I turn to the films in more detail, as a long-term resident in Japan I'd like to offer a few insights into what makes Ozu special. He has been called `the most Japanese' of the great directors and of the `big three' I'd say this is true though Mizoguchi Kenji also has a strong claim. But where Mizoguchi's focus lies on `high' Japanese culture (folk tales, Kabuki theater, Nôh drama, etc) Ozu's subject is everyday family life. His films reflect culture and attitudes that are unique to Japan which foreigners (I'm thinking of myself when I first arrived here 20 years ago) find opaque and difficult to comprehend. There is no doubt that the family is the central unit of Japanese society and Ozu's films are full of the feeling of maintaining `wa' (harmony) between family members and friends. Society here is anything but straightforward. Nothing is said or done directly (for example, in the Japanese language there are no words for `yes' or `no' and opinion-giving is frowned upon) for fear of causing offence and it is the upholding of an agreeable `tatamae' (surface) which is the oil of Japanese social discourse. For this reason Ozu's films are full of (seemingly) mundane conversations about everyday things - the weather, basic greetings, conversation about superficial subjects and statements of the obvious. Family occasions and ceremonies assume central importance with funerals, weddings and commemoration rituals taking up so much of the narrative focus even if (through typical Ozu narrative ellipsis) they might not be shown.
Japanese people generally avoid direct statement of emotions and foreigners not used to the country might find this odd and cold, but beneath the (for foreigners) bland surface harmony there is an ocean of deep emotion which is evidenced only obliquely, subtly and with great restraint. It is this feeling that lies at the heart of Ozu's universe. For those with the equipment to register it (Japanese people and those foreigners who understand their mentality) his films are extraordinarily moving. For those without, even if the technical achievements can still be grasped, the films may appear to be about nothing at all. This is the barrier preventing many from appreciating Ozu.
International producers were scared to release films which seemed only to appeal to insular Japanese tastes. In the 1950s when both Ozu and Mizoguchi were arguably at their height it was perhaps their misfortune to fall under the shadow of Kurosawa Akira, their younger `rival' who propelled Japanese cinema onto the world stage in 1950 by triumphing at Cannes with Rashomon. This was the first Japanese film most Americans and Europeans had ever seen and audiences of the time can be forgiven for assuming that Kurosawa's cinema was emblematic of Japanese culture as a whole, but looked at objectively we can see that influences on Kurosawa (ranging from Shakespeare to Dostoyevsky and from John Ford to Carl Theodor Dreyer) were fundamentally western. In fact his films have never sat easily with some Japanese people because of their bold metaphysical speculation where images and script are always aiming to `make a statement'. It's important to realize that this is fundamentally a western aesthetic and that a number of people in Japan accused Kurosawa (some still do) of intellectual snobbery and arrogance. The fact that after he left Toho studio in 1965 he had difficulty finding funds, ending up going to Russia to make Dersu Uzala and then making Kagemusha, Dreams and Ran with foreign money, shows how much he was ill-trusted in his home country.
Contrast Kurosawa with Ozu. Ozu was a life-long Shochiku company `salaryman', making only 3 of his 53 films away from that studio. From the time of The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family onwards he was considered a model of reliability in that he made shômin geki (domestic dramas) which made pots of money for Shochiku who were happy to let him use their best actors and technicians. Foreigners might see Ozu as an art house name, a director who made odd films of little interest to a wider audience. Actually, he was hugely popular in Japan, capturing great commercial success when he was alive. The artists that made up the Ozu family who always worked with him (writers Fushimi Akira, Ikeda Tadao and Noda Kôgo; cameramen Yuharu Atsuta and Mohara Hideo; composers Itô Senji and Saitô Kojun; actors Hara Setsuko, Iida Choko, Mitsui Koji, Miyake Kuniko, Sugimura Haruko, Ryû Chishû, Saburi Shin and others) all owe their careers to him and stay deeply loved by Japanese people to this day. Unlike Mizoguchi, Ozu showed indifference to whether he was accepted (or even distributed) overseas and was content to make films about his favorite subjects, adopting reactionary techniques which seemed to contradict the norm at the time, but consequently now seem so modern with his achievements surely set to last. Ozu's famous `minimalist' technique is rendered through his suppression of usual dramatic effect by the heavy usage of narrative ellipse, a camera that almost never moves, cutaway so-called `pillow shots' of buildings or nature which act as continuity links, precise `square' framing of images with a low camera looking up at characters (an aesthetic reflecting the interior design of Japanese houses and the screens and tatami straw mats which surround lives which take place mainly on the floor), and a tendency to shoot actors' faces full-on rather than using the over-the-shoulder, action-reaction approach of traditional Hollywood cinema. This puts the audience squarely in the film itself, a feeling alien to those weaned on the western norm.
The world of Ozu wasn't so different from the world of his Japanese audiences when his films were first released and the attendant themes involved (family conflict, social transition, a search for selflessness which is seldom found, the growing up process) reverberate strongly even in today's society in Japan. His films are simple, dedicated and reflect on the deepest of emotions in everyday life without resorting to intellectual bombast or camera trickery. Ozu's aesthetic is pure, subtle, refined and it is in this indirect appeal to our emotions that he shows his innate Japanese-ness. I have already said that Japanese people are not known for showing their emotions directly, but that does not mean they are not emotional. An Ozu film is a hugely emotional experience which is achieved as it were out of nothing. The biggest compliment you can give an actor, a writer or a director is where the mechanics of their craft disappear, and in an Ozu film everything seems effortless and completely natural. One would never know Ozu had prepared each scene meticulously at the script stage, had every camera set-up firmly in his head in advance and went on to demand absolute obedience to his complex preparations from everyone while shooting on set.
In the 50s when Europe was about to be hit by a French New Wave of vibrant self-reflexive film-making, the reactionary Ozu was going in the opposite direction, crafting out exquisite family dramas where ticks and tropes of style don't exist. We are moved in a profound and quietly devastating manner which is really quite unique to him, though echoes of his style are to be found today in the films of Hou Hsiao Hsien and Kore-eda Hirokazu. In fact in a world where the films of Theo Angelopoulos, Abbas Kiarostami and Béla Tarr (other masters of the narrative ellipse who are often accused of obscurity) have found sympathetic audiences around the world perhaps the climate is now right for Ozu to be recognized everywhere as the master he really was.
BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE TODA FAMILY (Todake no kyôdai)
(Japan, 1941, 100 minutes, b/w, Japanese language - English subtitles, Original aspect ratio 1.33:1)
This was a landmark film for Ozu. His 38th feature, it was his first box office hit and together with the following hugely popular There was a Father (Chichi Ariki) (1942) it cemented the trust that Shochiku studio had in him following his return from fighting in China, paving the way for an extraordinarily fertile post-war period. Ozu wrote the story with his regular collaborator Ikeda Tadao, but this was the first time cinematographer Yuharu Atsuta and actors Saburi Shin and Takamine Mieko worked with him. All would be Ozu regulars from this film onwards.
The film charts the disintegration of the rich Toda family introduced at the beginning by a family photograph session taking place in their imposing back garden to celebrate the birthday of Mrs. Toda (Katsuragi Ayako). She and her husband Shintaro (Fujino Hideo) have five grown up children, two sons and three daughters. It takes time for the film to introduce these characters, and at the beginning it is only the second unmarried son, Shojiro (Saburi Shin) who stands out because of his bad manner. His tardiness for the photo and his immediate disappearance to go fishing would appear to mark him out as a bad egg, but actually in typical Ozu fashion he undergoes a redemption and turns out to be the only offspring/sibling worthy of the name. The evening of the photo session, the patriarch of the family has a heart attack and in a trademark ellipse we cut straight from sibling reaction to the otsuya (the ceremony performed on the eve of the funeral) shown with a camera shot of an array of the guests' bowler hats on a tatami floor, the ceremony taking place in the next room. Shojiro's tardiness is again emphasized. The siblings gather later to digest the news that their father has died leaving massive debts that must be paid by selling off family property and artifacts. This leaves the widowed matriarch and the youngest unmarried daughter, Setsuko (Takamine Mieko) in a state of penury and totally reliant on the charity of the older married siblings.
Ozu demonstrates the cold selfishness of the second generation over the events of the next year. With Shojiro working in China, at first the two ladies live with the eldest son, Shinichiro (Saito Tatsuo) and his self-obsessed wife Kazuko (Miyake Kumiko) who uses them as servants, getting rid of them when she receives guests and ordering them to go shopping for her. Unable to stand the humiliation, the two victims try their luck with the eldest sister Chizuru (Yoshikawa Mitsuko) who is even worse than Kazuko. A terrible snob, she forbids Setsuko to get a job for fear of embarrassing the family and attacks her own mother for conniving with her truant-playing son. The downward spiral reaches rock bottom when the two `exiles' visit the second sister, Ayako (Tsubouchi Yoshiko). In Japanese culture it is rude to ask for anything. You have to wait to be asked by the other person who hopefully is sensitive to your need. So when the pair tell Ayako they plan to move back into the dilapidated old family home the sister is supposed to recognize her responsibility and offer them her house. Instead, in crass violation of basic Japanese courtesy she seizes the chance to get rid of them by supporting their proposal.
Ozu's treatment of the story is typically simple and direct. There are no arguments, no histrionics, just quiet defiance and the spirit of `gaman' (toleration) shown by the victims. And yet their plight is rendered so terribly moving through subtle means - Setsuko complaining to her friend Tokiko (Kuwano Kayoko) in very mild terms, Mrs. Toda's resigned tolerance of Chizuru's selfish bullying of her, and in simple cutaways to the picture of the dead husband on the wall presiding over events and the caged bird symbolizing their owners' caged existence. The sadness of the film is leavened by the happy conclusion, Shojiro returning from China for the father's ishuki (first year death anniversary) to tick off his siblings. He sends them all packing and agrees to look after his mother and Setsuko by taking them back to China with him. He even agrees to an arranged marriage with Setsuko's dull friend Tokiko. The caged bird also gets to join in the fun. The idea of a Japanese family escaping to a country against which they had been fighting an aggressive war for over a decade might raise a few eye-brows in today's western audiences, but the film's concluding lightness and satirical touch is entirely typical of Ozu's pre-war style. As Tokyo Story reflects, things in Japan were about to take an altogether darker turn.
TOKYO STORY (Tôkyô Monogatari)
(Japan, 1953, 136 minutes, b/w, Japanese language - English subtitles, Original aspect ratio 1.33:1)
With so many glowing reviews and articles on the net celebrating this glorious film, it is difficult for me to know what else I could possibly add. It is one of my favorites and indeed it's difficult to imagine a more perfect film. As always with Ozu the subject is family, specifically the relationships between parents and children and the generation conflict that rages between them. This conflict is on one level entirely natural, but in his post-war films there is a second level of enforced melancholy imposed by Japan's defeat in World War II.
The film opens on a quiet coastal town scene (a place called Onomichi in southwest Japan) with images of transience and impending change - boats move in the harbor, a train is seen and a whistle is heard. Watch carefully here as the images are echoed right at the end giving the film a miraculous sense of balance. We cut to an old couple, Shukichi and Tomi Hirayama (the wonderful Ryû Chishû and the no-less perfect Higashiyama Chieko) who are packing for an impending trip. The film's `drama', if it can be called that, revolves around their trip to Osaka and Tokyo to visit their four grown-up children, leaving the fifth unmarried youngest daughter Kyôko (Kagawa Kyôko) behind. Following the pattern of Toda Family they visit their offspring in descending order of age and find that each one of them is so involved in their own lives that they have no time to treat their parents properly. The oldest son Koichi (Yamamura So) is a pediatrician who with his wife spoil their two children rotten and fail to acknowledge their responsibilities. Feeling like intruders, the old couple move on to the eldest daughter, Shige (Sugimura Haruko). Shige runs a hairdressing salon and is reluctant to give over space and time to the couple. She and Koichi decide to get rid of the old couple, splitting the cost and booking them into a noisy inn at the seaside where they spend a very uncomfortable night - the scene where they are disturbed in bed by the noise with the camera simply pointing at their slippers outside their door is heart-breaking.
The next morning Tomi complains of a slight pain in her back. That's all we need in an Ozu film to know that tragedy is not far away. They return to Tokyo and don't know where to go. Both Koichi and Shige have shown little signs of welcome and they bide their time in Ueno Park (a place known in Japan as a place where derelicts hang out). The couple decide to split up, Tomi imposing on Noriko (Hara Setsuko), the widowed wife of their son Shoji who was killed in the war, and Shukichi going drinking with two old mates. These two scenes are very interesting, the first dwelling on Japan's loss in the war, the sacrifices Noriko has had to make and the feeling that she must stop dwelling on the past and think to the future by searching out a new husband. The second depicts the disappointment of the old generation in the lack of ambition of the new. Again, the transformation in Japanese society is subtly dealt with by the acknowledgment that children can never grow up to satisfy their parents enough. A very funny drunk scene (you would never guess Ryû Chishû is playing a character 20 years older than his real life age) where he and his friend crash in on Shige is followed by the next morning's brief farewell scene at Tokyo station. Ozu inserts one of his astonishing ellipses which omits the train ride, shows the couple briefly in their youngest son Keizo's (Osaka Shirô) apartment with a brief reference to Tomi's sickness on the train, and the next thing we know they are home in Onomichi and the siblings are making preparations to visit Tomi who is now critically ill.
The film's pulsing heart lies in the absolutely staggering performance of Hara Setsuko as Noriko (this film is part three of the so-called `Noriko Trilogy', the other two being Late Spring and Early Summer where Hara plays two other - unconnected - characters of the same name). She is the only one who displays love and consideration to her parents-in-law as she takes them sight-seeing around Tokyo and puts up Tomi, her dark dingy apartment demonstrating that though she has suffered greatly she gives much more to Tomi than any of her richer siblings in-law. In a sequence which says everything about the heart-breaking subtlety of Ozu's style, when everyone convenes in Onomichi it turns out that Noriko hasn't brought her mofuku (funeral kimono) with her. She has come only thinking her mother-in-law will live. Shige however arrives with her mofuku at the ready and after Tomi passes away she demands to take Tomi's kimono and obi (the kimono's belt) in a very cold fashion. One lady has come to Onomichi thinking about life and what she can do to help her mother-in-law while the other lady has come only thinking about death and how she can make something out of it.
And yet, the beauty of the film lies in Ozu's even-handed treatment of the characters. Even the worst characters are shown to be sympathetic as shown in the wonderful final dialog when Kyôko is leaving Noriko for the last time. She complains bitterly about how cold and selfish her siblings are, but the worldly wise Noriko advises that their behavior is simply normal. In the straightened condition of post-war Japan people really only have time to think about themselves and it is right to prioritize the concerns of their own offspring over their parents. As Noriko says, that is the nature of life. And really if we look closely at the behavior of the older siblings, both Koichi and Shige are trapped by their circumstances. Koichi can't take care of his parents because he has patients to tend while as despicable as Shige's behavior appears to be (especially to western eyes) when she breaks down into tears on hearing her mother is about to die, she is completely redeemed (we must remember that Sugimura Haruko was deeply beloved of Japanese audiences). Ozu is even careful not to make the old people completely `good'. There are references to Shukichi's past heavy drinking and his comment that he regrets not having been kinder to his wife while she was alive. The film is full of very real tangible emotion, but it never overflows into sentimental soap as the same story would in a Hollywood version. The ending of this film is the most moving ending in all of cinema and it's achieved with the most delicate restraint.
Tokyo Story is always singled out for huge praise, but this is because it was the only one of Ozu's films to be released overseas during this period. There are two reasons for this. The first is that it's slightly more melodramatic (and therefore `accessible') than usual for Ozu, while the second is that the story of an old couple being spurned by the younger generation is something western audiences can easily relate to, the film being less `Japanese' than other masterpieces from this period like Late Spring and Early Summer which carry cultural references which might seem opaque to foreigners. Lovers of Ozu will know though that a number of his films are indeed on the same exalted level as Tokyo Story. To ask which one is Ozu's best is rather like asking which Beethoven symphony (or should I say `Bach cantata'?) is the best. The question is redundant - all his films demand to be seen.

come up to Tokyo to work. The living custom is quite different from that of western civilaization, yet the baisic does not
change, which you would recognize it. you would also admire how the yasujiro Ozu the regiseuer made film without any
decoration but stick to the real life.