Tokyo Story [Criterion Collection] [2 Discs]

Director: Yasujiro Ozu Yasujiro Ozu

Overview

As with much of director Yasujiro Ozu's work, a plot summary of this film does not do justice to the emotional power that Ozu lends to this sad, understated tale. An elderly couple, Shukichi (Chishu Ryu) and Tomi Hirayama (Chieko Higashiyama), leaves their small coastal village in southern Japan to visit their married children in Tokyo. Their eldest son, Koichi (So Yamamura), a doctor running a clinic in a working-class part of town, is too busy to show them around town, and their eldest daughter is occupied with her beauty salon. Only their widowed daughter-in-law, Noriko, played memorably by Setsuko Hara, is willing to take time off work to show the couple the sights of Tokyo. The older children arrange for their parents to visit Atami Hot Springs, but the unimpressed couple soon returns to Tokyo. Tomi stays with her daughter-in-law while Shukichi goes out drinking with some of his buddies, and the bunch complains about their vague sense of disappointment toward their children. Later, he stumbles into his daughter Shige's (Haruko Sugimura ) house late at night. On the way back to their village, tragedy strikes. The callous inattention that son and daughter paid to their parents becomes unamendable. Shige and Koichi quickly return to their busy lives in Tokyo after the funeral, as Noriko and youngest daughter Kyoko (Kyoko Kagawa) remain.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/22/2016
UPC:	0715515172417
Original Release:	1953
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion Collection
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	2:16:00
Sales rank:	14,301

Special Features

Audio commentary featuring Yasujiro Ozu scholar David Desser, editor of Ozu's "Tokyo Story"; I Lived, But . . . , a two-hour documentary from 1983 about Ozu's life and career, featuring interviews with critics and former cast and crew members; Talking with Ozu, a forty-minute tribute to the director from 1993, featuring the reflections of filmmakers Lindsay Anderson, Claire Denis, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Aki Kaurismäki, Stanley Kwan, Paul Schrader, and Wim Wenders; Documentary from 1988 about actor Chishu Ryu's work At Shockiku's Ofuna Studio, featuring an interview with Ryu ; Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Chishu Ryu	Shukishi Hirayama
Chieko Higashiyama	Tomi Hirayama,Actor
So Yamamura	Koichi Hirayama
Kuniko Miyake	Fumiko
Haruko Sugimura	Shige Kaneko
Nobuo Nakamura	Kurazo Kaneko
Kyoko Kagawa	Kyoko
Setsuko Hara	Noriko,Actor
Shiro Osaka	Keiso
Eijiro Tono	Sanpei Numata
Teruko Nagaoka	Yone Hattori
Zen Murase	Minoru
Mitsuhiro Mori	Isamu
Hisao Toake	Osamu Hattori
Toyoko Takahashi	Shukichi Hirayama's Neighbor,Rinka no saikun
Mutsuko Sakura	Patron of the Oden Restaurant
Toru Abe	Railroad Employee
Sachiko Mitani	Actor
Junko Anan	Actor
Yoshiko Togawa	Actor
Ryoko Mizuki	Actor,Biyouin no kyaku
Chishû Ryû	Shukishi Hirayama
Shirô Ôsaka	Keizo Hirayama
Mitsuhiro Môri	Isamu Hirayama - Koichi's son
Keijirô Morozumi	Junsa
Tsutomu Nijima	Noriko's office boss
Shôzô Suzuki	Jimuin
Yoshiko Tashiro	Ryokan no jochuu
Takanobu Saitô	Composer
Kojun Saito	Composer,Composer

Technical Credits

Yasujiro Ozu

Kogo Noda

Yasujiro Ozu	Director,Screenwriter
Kogo Noda	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Takeshi Yamamoto	Producer
Yoshisaburô Senoo	Sound Effects

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Tokyo Story (The Criterion Collection)
1. Opening Credits [2:37]
2. Preparations [3:45]
3. Arrival In Tokyo [7:15]
4. Noriko [4:07]
5. Catching Up [5:52]
6. A Change In Schedule [7:41]
7. Shige Enlists Noriko's Help [6:10]
8. Sightseeing In Tokyo [8:02]
9. The Children Make Plans [2:35]
10. Hot Springs At Atami [8:04]
11. An Early Return [4:27]
12. Shukichi And Tomi Part [2:27]
13. Shukichi's Night Out [10:10]
14. Tomi Stays With Noriko [4:34]
15. Shukichi Returns To Shige's House [4:01]
16. Noriko Says Good-Bye [3:58]
17. The Children See Their Parents Off [2:34]
18. A Temporary Stay In Osaka [3:42]
19. The Childrean Prepare To Visit [7:58]
20. Tomi's Condition Worsens [2:44]
21. The Family Gathers In Onomichi [4:54]
22. Keizo Arrives Late [6:01]
23. Funeral [2:55]
24. A Final Dinner Together [5:44]
25. Farewells [9:35]
26. "I'd Have Been Kinder To Her" [4:55]
1. Color Bars [:20]
1. Ozu And Tokyo Story [2:37]
2. Establishing Onomichi/Shukichi And Tomi [3:45]
3. Playing With Space/Generational Conflict [7:15]
4. Distinguishing Noriko From The Others [4:07]
5. Ordinary Japanese Life/Chishu Ryu [5:52]
6. Understanding Ozu's Popularity/Foreshadowing [7:41]
7. Shige's Stinginess [6:10]
8. Revealing Postwar Tokyo And Life's Cycles [8:02]
9. A Contrast To Noriko/Character Positioning [2:35]
10. Atami As A Plot Point [8:04]
11. Haruko Sugimura/Social Niceties [4:27]
12. Tracking Shots/Abandoned [2:27]
13. Male Camaraderie/Children Who Disappoint [10:10]
14. Setsuko Hara/Noriko's Dilemma [4:34]
15. Comic Relief [4:01]
16. Noriko's Generosity/Melodrama [3:58]
17. No Tearful Good-Bye [2:34]
18. Coming To Terms With Life [3:42]
19. Time To Digest The News [7:58]
20. The Circularity Of The Film's Narrative [2:44]
21. A Unique Presentation Of Death For Ozu [4:54]
22. Buddhist Undertones [6:01]
23. The Cycle Of Life Emphasized [2:55]
24. An Investment In Dailiness/Shukichi's Future [5:44]
25. "People Change" [9:35]
26. Transience [4:55]
1. Color Bars [:20]
1. Stanley Kwan [7:22]
2. Aki Kaurismäki [3:42]
3. Claire Denis [6:31]
4. Lindsay Anderson [4:22]
5. Paul Schrader [4:52]
6. Wim Wenders [6:52]
7. Hou Hsiao-hsien [5:47]
Disc #2 -- Tokyo Story (The Criterion Collection)
1. What Does This Nothingness Mean? [3:07]
2. Chishu Ryu [2:35]
3. A Brief History [7:09]
4. First Job [3:19]
5. Ozu's Film Career Begins [4:09]
6. The Student Series [2:33]
7. The Kihachi Series [6:27]
8. Fastidiousness [5:19]
9. The Circle Of Life [6:29]
10. "I Can Wait" [7:38]
11. A Hen In The Wind [3:50]
12. Late Spring [7:35]
13. Early Summer [6:38]
14. Ozu's Mentors [2:23]
15. Worldwide Acclaim [4:47]
16. Writing With Kogo Noda [5:37]
17. Actors' Reflections [4:38]
18. Ozu And The Edo Tradition [2:54]
19. Authenticity [4:16]
20. A Director And Mentor [4:35]
21. The Shadow Of Death [4:18]
22. A Rigid Framework [7:43]
23. Alone [5:16]
24. The Gardener [1:51]
25. Cancer [3:05]
26. A Full Circle [4:16]
1. Chapter 1 [45:06]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Tokyo Story (The Criterion Collection)
   Play The Movie
   Chapters
   Commentary
      Commentary: Off
      Commentary: On
      Index
   Supplements
      Talking With Ozu
         Play
         Index
      Trailer
   Subtitles
      Subtitles: On
      Subtitles: Off
Disc #2 -- Tokyo Story (The Criterion Collection)
   I Lived, But . . .
      Play
      Index
   Chishu Ryu And Shockiku's Ofuna Studio
      Chapters
   Subtitles
      Subtitles: On
      Subtitles: Off

Editorial Reviews

Tokyo Story is widely considered both the best film of Yasujiro Ozu's long career and among the finest films ever made. It paints a quiet, nostalgic view of traditions and values lost in a changing society, seen through the lens of a single family's experiences. Old virtues, such as honoring one's parents, are pushed aside in the unrelenting tumult of the modern city. Tokyo Story showcases Ozu's idiosyncratic style in its maturity. Throughout the film, he shoots through a 50 mm lens at a constant low angle, subordinates spatial continuity to the composition of a given shot, and punctuates the film with shots of empty space. Instead of using flashy cinematic devices, he focuses on the nuances of everyday life, which has the odd effect of lifting the film from mere melodrama to a meditation on the fleeting nature of human existence. Tokyo Story shows a master director at the peak of his talents, producing one of the classics of world cinema.

All Movie Guide - Jonathan Crow

One of the greatest films of all time.

Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert