MUBI brings you a great new film every day.  Start your 7-day free trial today!
Watch a new film every day for $4.99.
Try MUBI for FREE.
 

Tokyo Olympiad

Tôkyô orimpikku

Japan

1965

170 Min
Color
2.35:1
Japanese
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

   |   

DIR Kon Ichikawa

PROD Suketaru Taguchi

SCR Kon Ichikawa, Yoshio Shirasaka, Shuntaro Tanikawa, Natto Wada

DP Kazuo Miyagawa, Shigeo Murata, Shigeichi Nagano, Kenji Nakamura, Tadashi Tanaka

ED Tatsuji Nakashizu

MUSIC Toshirô Mayuzumi

SOUND Ichirô Hoshi

Cannes (Out of competition), Edinburgh

Synopsis

A spectacle of magnificent proportions, Kon Ichikawa’s Tokyo Olympiad ranks among the greatest documents of sport ever committed to film. Utilizing glorious widescreen cinematography, Ichikawa examines the beauty and rich drama on display at the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo, creating a catalogue of extraordinary observations that range from the expansive to the intimate. The glory, despair, passion, and suffering of Olympic competition are rendered with lyricism and technical mastery, culminating in an inspiring testament to the beauty of the human body and the strength of the human spirit. —The Criterion Collection

Director

Original

Kon Ichikawa

Born on November 20, 1915, in Ujiyamada, Mie Prefecture, Ichikawa first gained western recognition during the 1950s and 60s with several bleak films, particularly two acclaimed antiwar films, The Burmese Harp and Fires on the Plain.

Ichikawa began his career as a cartoonist, and collaborated with his wife, screenwriter Natto WADA, until 1965. His films are generally regarded as dark and bleak, interspersed with sparks of humanity, and he often intertwines comedy and tragedy within the same story. He also has a flair for technical expertise, irony, detachment, and a drive for realism across all genres. After Akira KUROSAWA’s departure, no other Japanese director has come close to Ichikawa’s level of recognition, the power of his films, and commercial success.

Ichikawa passed away on February 13, 2008. At age 91 (2006), he was still active as a director, completing a feature-length film, The Inugamis, and directing one segment of the Japanese fantasy, Ten Nights of Dream… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 8 wall posts.
Picture of mirzafahmi
Picture of Jeremy Ashlyn

Jeremy Ashlyn

18Mar12

This one really is something.

Picture of ryOtoha

ryOtoha

27Sep11

Anybody could assumed that he will eventually fast forward through some of it. But it's so spectacular, well executed, well edited, it's just mesmerizing.

Jeremy Ashlyn likes this

Picture of Patrick

Patrick

21May11

The Best Movie Ever.

Related Films