Rating: 
Summary: A Quiet masterpiece
Review: This film was held back from international distribution for many years because it was thought to be too "Japanese". It's hard to imagine why.
The story is immediately engrossing and keeps you rivetted from start to finish. It's not Seven Samurai or Yojimbo, but a simple tale of an elderly couple travelling to Tokyo to see their children. What results is disappointment and resentment masked by plastic smiles , false pleasantries and rigid formality. The parents are disappointed in the children, and the children resent the parents. There are no intense moments of melodrama or intriguing plot twists to entertain the viewer. Worlds of pain and suffering are revealed through a few words here or there, or through subtle body language.The film is beautifully photographed with a minimal amount of camera movement (if there is any at all), and is well preserved by Criterion. It may not be the best restoration ever, but it's superior to the infamous Ran transfers, and hardly noticeable when the film carries you away. The entire cast is wonderful, varying from polite inoffensive formality of the elderly couple, the businesslike, obligatory courtesy of the children, and carefree lack of pretentiousness of the grandchildren. The characters are so realistic that you may be reminded of friends or family. Standing out are Chishu Ryu as the father and Setsuko Hara as the widow of Ryu's deceased son. Hara spends most of her film time bearing the most artificial and forced smiles, almost annoyingly, until the end with her scene with Ryu in which years of concealed heartbreak finally come to the surface. It is simple to the point of understatement, and quite memorable. Ozu, one of the most neglected artists in the West, shows himself here to be one of the great directors of all time in this universal tale of deception and honesty. I'm not going to throw away Kurosawa, but I will let him set on the back-burner for a while so i can explore the new and soon to be released works of this Quiet Master of cinema.
Rating:
Summary: A Quiet masterpiece
Review: This film was held back from international distribution for many years because it was thought to be too "Japanese". It's hard to imagine why.
The story is immediately engrossing and keeps you rivetted from start to finish. It's not Seven Samurai or Yojimbo, but a simple tale of an elderly couple travelling to Tokyo to see their children. What results is disappointment and resentment masked by plastic smiles , false pleasantries and rigid formality. The parents are disappointed in the children, and the children resent the parents. There are no intense moments of melodrama or intriguing plot twists to entertain the viewer. Worlds of pain and suffering are revealed through a few words here or there, or through subtle body language. The film is beautifully photographed with a minimal amount of camera movement (if there is any at all), and is well preserved by Criterion. It may not be the best restoration ever, but it's superior to the infamous Ran transfers, and hardly noticeable when the film carries you away. The entire cast is wonderful, varying from polite inoffensive formality of the elderly couple, the businesslike, obligatory courtesy of the children, and carefree lack of pretentiousness of the grandchildren. The characters are so realistic that you may be reminded of friends or family. Standing out are Chishu Ryu as the father and Setsuko Hara as the widow of Ryu's deceased son. Hara spends most of her film time bearing the most artificial and forced smiles, almost annoyingly, until the end with her scene with Ryu in which years of concealed heartbreak finally come to the surface. It is simple to the point of understatement, and quite memorable. Ozu, one of the most neglected artists in the West, shows himself here to be one of the great directors of all time in this universal tale of deception and honesty. I'm not going to throw away Kurosawa, but I will let him set on the back-burner for a while so i can explore the new and soon to be released works of this Quiet Master of cinema.
Rating:
Summary: masterfully done
Review: This is an excellent movie but not because it is any sort of a blockbuster motion picture nor because it is a cerebral exploration into one's inner self. It is is excellent because it tells a meaningful story in a very simplistic manner. A retired Japanese couple decide to go to the Big City to visit their adult children. This is a big event, something they apparently have not done for a long time, if ever. Their experiences, once they get to their destination, are disappointing. Their children seem to mean well but it is obvious that mom and dad are "in the way". This seems to be more obvious to the viewers than to mom and dad who seem content with the little attention that they get. There is a tragic ending to the story but the real tragedy has already manifested itself before then. The movie touches us because it hits so close to home (literally). This COULD be us in any of the roles we see. Are we the son who is too busy to take the time to be with his parents? Are we the daughter who wishes they would just visit and leave without staying so long? Are we the son who worries more about how the parents visit will disrupt his life than how he can make their visit enjoyable? Are we the daughter-in-law who can't do enough to entertain them (don't we wish we are)? Or are we the parents who raised these children who are too blind (or is it polite) to realize what we have created (the song "Cat's in the Cradle" comes to mind). The acting in this movie is exceptional because it makes us feel that we really are looking into the lives of an actual family. Nothing is over-stated nor under-stated, it just seems to happen. I wondered how I would have appreciated this movie if I hadn't known of its excellent rating (one of "Sight and Sound"'s top ten of all-time greatest movies). To be honest, I doubt I would have even had the opportunity to see it. However, I think that it would have touched me just as sincerely as it did. This is a movie worth seeing by anyone who doesn't mind reading subtitles in order to discover a bitter-sweet story about their own lives.
Rating: 
Summary: Three Stars
Review: This is the story of an elderly Japanese grandma & grandpa who travel a far distance by train to visit their kids in Tokyo. Only problem is, their kids live in tiny crowded homes and are not on vacation. This leads to the parents being unceremoniously routed from one child to the next because nobody has the time to entertain them. As it turns out, the child who is nicest to them is the daughter-in-law, wife of their dead son, who we presume died in the war. When the grandma dies unexpectedly, the children are very concerned about grabbing her possessions. I assume the director is trying to make a statement about the elderly not getting the respect and the compassion that they enjoyed in the pre-war era, but I can't say for sure since this is outside of my culture.
This film was shot in black & white. Sometimes black & white has a wonderfully velvety and mysterious quality and sometimes it simply looks harsh. In this picture it comes across as harsh. The subtitles are in white with black outline and they are very difficult to read. Half the time they are just blending right into the picture. I had to sit very close to the tv set in order to catch all the words, and I have 20/20 vision with my glasses. I think the subtitles should have been done in red or some other color that would make them easier to read.
Rating:
Summary: Essential
Review: This is vintage Criterion: good image quality and great extras (a detailed commentary and a biography of the director).
Rating:
Summary: "I'd have been Kinder to Her"
Review: This movie begins simply enough with the elderly couple Shukichi and Tomi arriving in Tokyo to see their collective children and grandchildren whom they have not seen for a number of years. At first it seems like everything is going well. They at first stay with their eldest son Koichi, who is a children's doctor, and are able to rest a bit around their children and grandchilden, Isamu and Minoru who are a bit less than thrilled having their grandparents stay with them.
However, things begin to sour soon after the couple's arrival. One Sunday, when the entire family is planning on going out together Koichi is called into work. This sets off a series of events in which Koichi and his family are too busy to spend time with his parents. Feeling their welcome strained at Koichi's, the couple decides to stay with their eldest daughter, Shige. However, Shige is even less accomodating than Koichi. From the moment her parents walk through the door, she is complaining about their presence and unloads them on Noriko, the widow of Shukichi and Tomi's second son who died in World War II. Although Noriko lives in a small, spartan apartment, brings in less income, and is not even a blood relative she looks after the old couple better than their children.
However, while the old couple is with Noriko, Shige convinces Koichi to have his parent's visit Atami instead of spending the remaining days of their trip with them. Shukichi and Tomi do go, but they soon return because the establishment is intended for a younger crowd. Almost thrown out of Shige's home when they return, Tomi stays the night with Noriko again, and Shukichi goes out to drink with his old friends Hattori and Numata. While Tomi has a heart to heart conversation with Noriko, Shukichi gets completely wasted, and upon returning to Shige's, with a drunken Numata, the viewer witnesses Shige pushing and prodding Shukichi. Although this seems a bit cruel, and it is, Shige is actually a bit concerned that her father is drinking again.
The next morning Shukichi and Tomi board a train to return home, but Tomi becomes ill so the couple has to make an emergency stop in Osaka where they stay with their third son, Keizo.
They eventually make it backhome, but soon after their arrival, Tomi becomes very ill. Telegrams are sent to each family member to return to the family home immediately...
This is a wonderful film. I have heard much about Ozu since I became a graduate student, but I had never watched one of his films before. This one is quite moving and it depicts quite well how a family can grow apart from each other. The scene where Shige asks to have a couple of pieces of her mother's clothing, on the day of the funeral, left me steaming.
Rating: 
Summary: A great look at postwar Japan
Review: This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.
"Tokyo Story" released in japan as "Tokyo Monogatari" is a very nice look at Japan in the early postwar years..
In the film, an elderly couple living in the country visit their children in the city. Unfortunately their children have other plans and are too busy to be with them. The father subsequently gets sick and they go home.
This film is one of the most popular Japanese film ever made and is very worthy of a release on the Criterion Collection.
The DVD has some excellent special features too.
Dice one contains the film with optional audio commentary by David Desser. it also has a theatrical trailer.
Disc two has two documentaries about the director Yasujiro Ozu.
"Talking with Ozu" is a collection of tributes by various filmmakers in celebration of the 90th anniversery of Ozu's birth. The persons giving the tributes are: Stanley Kwan, Aki Kaurismäki, Claire Denis, Lindsay Anderson, Paul Schrader, Wim Wenders, and Hou Hsiao-Hsien. The other documentary is "I lived but..." the title is a variation of the titles of some of Ozu's films. It included interviews with Shomei Imamura, Donald Richie, Tadao Sato, Chisu Ryu, Mariko Okada, and many others.
This release is one that all Ozu fans should watch.
Rating:
Summary: Subtle, Powerful, * * * * * *
Review: To appreciate this movie, keep in mind while watching it that traditional Japanese behavior is to restrict expressing your own opinion. Japanese people do not say, "do you want to..."; instead, they say, "will you...?" Because of this, you must pay really close attention to the words and actions of others to discover how they are really feeling. Try to put yourself into the shoes of each person in this film, and you will feel enlightened when the movie is over. This movie is about a kind old couple who take a trip to visit their grown children in a big city across the country. However, they soon get the feeling that they are imposing on their children's lives, and do all they can to keep out of the way. Eventually they leave for home, but the old woman grows gravely ill along the way. That is only the outward-facing plot of the movie. The movie is really about priorities (culture and peace of mind versus your own self-interests), relationships, and loyalty. A word of warning: this is a kleenex movie!
Rating:
Summary: Accepting life for what it is
Review: Tokyo Story is a movie that can be understood and loved by people everywhere because its theme is so universal. Kids grow up and neglect their parents. Sadly, the children often don't come to this realization until it's too late. In the movie, the youngest son expresses his guilt during his mother's funeral when he says we should be kind to our parents while they are alive, because filial piety cannot reach beyond the grave. But I don't think Ozu is condemning children. He's just pointing out that this is the way life is. The character Noriko poignantly states this, later in the movie. Just a quick note about the famous lines spoken near the end of the film. The English subtitles give the spirit of the Japanese. But what Kyoko actually says to Noriko is, "Iya ne yononaka te" (The world is disgusting, isn't it?). Noriko responds by saying, "So, iya na koto bakari" (That's right, there are only disgusting things). Noriko can smile when she says this because she has come to accept life for what it is.
Rating:
Summary: If great art is universal everyone will appreciate this film
Review: Tokyo Story is a work of art of astounding power and profound beauty. I once read that the British Film Society called Ozu one of the greatest artists of the 20th century in any country and in any medium. Tokyo Story is one of his greatest films. If you buy this video be sure you can watch it without interruption. Unplug the phone if you have to. Also, be patient with it. When I first saw it, the thought occurred to me during the opening scene that the film might be a bit uninteresting, and, as the film progressed, I was struck by its sadness. However, after the film was over I understood that the opening scene contributed in an important way to the overall power of the film. Any feelings of sadness I had had during the film had turned to exhilaration. For one of the very few times in my life, I had a gut level feeling of certain knowledge that I had experienced a great work of art. Anyone interested in learning more about the director and his work can refer to Donald Richie's excellent book Ozu.
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