Tokyo Story
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Tokyo Story (東京物語 Tokyo Monogatari) is a 1953 Japanese movie by Yasujiro Ozu, in which elderly parents from the seaside town of Onomichi visit their busy children in Tokyo — a journey which, before the introduction of the bullet train, took almost a day — only to be neglected by them. It stars Setsuko Hara, one of Japan's (and the director's) favourite actresses, as their daughter-in-law. The children genuinely wish to spend time with their parents, and do, however as they have lives and families of their own they find it difficult to maintain a balance between the two.
The story does not rely on dramatized moments and Hollywood plot points; instead, as is common with the filmmaker's works, it is deliberately-paced. Camera shots are typically at sitting-mat level and seldom change. Once in the film the camera actually pans away from a stationary view, "a high number for his films", film critic Roger Ebert half-humorously reports. A personal fan of Ozu's works, Mr. Ebert gave it his highest rating.
Tokyo Story is regularly listed as one of the ten greatest films ever made in Sight and Sound magazine's regular polls of directors and critics. John Walker, editor of the Halliwell's Film Guides, placed Tokyo Story top in his published list of the best 1000 films yet made. Movie preservers The Criterion Collection recently cleaned up and reissued the black and white film on a two-disc DVD set (Region 1).
External links
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- Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, June 10, 2005, "The quiet master" (http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,4120,1503313,00.html)ja:東京物語