Tokyo Story
東京物語 | Tōkyō Monogatari
Synopsis
An ageing couple travel from their rural village to visit their two married children in bustling, postwar Tokyo. Their son and daughter don’t have much time to spend with their parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.
This film is not currently playing on MUBI but 30 other great films are. See what’s now showing
Show all
(7)
Awards & Festivals
Cannes Film Festival
2018 | Cannes Classics
Locarno International Film Festival
1979
1983
2006
BFI London Film Festival
1958 | Winner: Sutherland Trophy
True to Ozu’s low-level tatami-eye, we’re there with them at every turn. You participate—save rare instances of sentimental music, Ozu leaves you to behold what’s said and unsaid without relying upon dramatic shots. Instead, he shoots everything square and symmetrical—life is messy but that’s how it fits. Young or old, turbulence helps comprise life’s geometry.
Max Kyburz
February 08, 2017
The film embodies Ozu’s signature style, which consists of seemingly slow-moving plot and humbly low camera placement. It’s widely considered his masterpiece, yet it rejects critical examination. It exists just as his characters do, wholly and unremarkably, and alive in the truest sense of the word. To scrutinize an Ozu film is, like poetry, to vitiate its essence; to ask “why?” is to miss the point completely.
Kathleen Sachs
May 06, 2016
PopOptiq
Their visual and thematic consistency can cause some to decry him for having made the same film over and over again (some similar titles can also add to this verdict), but within such standard formal patterns, Ozu conveys remarkable differences from film to film. Desser points out that Ozu considered himself a craftsman, or something akin to a tofu maker; he made one kind of film, but he did it exceedingly well with great care. If that is indeed the case, Tokyo Story may be his finest product.
Jeremy Carr
November 29, 2013
Related films
Late Spring
Yasujirô Ozu, 1949
Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth?
Yasujirô Ozu, 1932
What Did the Lady Forget?
Yasujirô Ozu, 1937
The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family
Yasujirô Ozu, 1941
That Night's Wife
Yasujirô Ozu, 1930
The Only Son
Yasujirô Ozu, 1936
Make Way for Tomorrow
Leo McCarey, 1937
Early Summer
Yasujirô Ozu, 1951
Late Autumn
Yasujirô Ozu, 1960
An Autumn Afternoon
Yasujirô Ozu, 1962
Good Morning
Yasujirô Ozu, 1959
Tokyo Family
Yôji Yamada, 2013