Sunday 10 January 2010

Tokyo Story - 1/1/10 Filmhouse, Edinburgh

The first in the Filmhouse Ozu season.

Long thought "unsuitable" for a Western audience because of his intimate depictions of the subtleties of Japanese middle-class, post-war life Ozu is, nonetheless, now to be found alongside Kurosawa when one thinks of the great Japanese directors.

This film is a moving and delicate look at the notion of filial loyalty in post-war Tokyo. When the elderly parents of the Hirayami family come to visit their children in Tokyo it soon becomes apparent that their children have no time to share with them. Instead their daughter in law Norkio takes responsibility despite the fact that her young husband has died during the war.

That is really it by way of plot but this is a film about people, about the nature of family, the notion of loyalty and the realisation that we should cherish the time we have with those we love because soon enough they won't be here.

A genuine classic, this is a film that requires patience from you but the reward for doing so is the knowledge that you have seen something genuinely wonderful, deeply personal and beautifully created.

2 comments:

  1. Superb movie, want to see it again.
    It felt like it was all over in half an hour.
    It was late evening when I left the cinema otherwise I might well have booked a holiday to Japan.

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  2. Book that holiday now Robert!

    You won't be disappointed...not too much has changed!

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