Tokyo Story is not Tokyo's story. It is the story of ageing, old age and letting go. The director's genius is in how he uses the media of film to narrate life, without diluting or manipulating it. Life is depicted as is. The movie has a slow start and the first half an hour goes by without really making much of an impression. It shows daily life – chop wood, fetch water – an old couple visiting their children in big city. Everyone has busy lives, though of course, busy is how one chooses to be. Time goes where one wants it go. At the surface, the grown-up children are concerned, but it remains at the surface. There's contrasting dialog where one person says "you can serve your parents only till the grave" and another says "children have their own needs". There's really no wrong or right. Its what is. For the mother, getting the chance to sleep in the bed of her long assumed-dead son was bigger than being shown around Tokyo city. Priorities are different and keep changing. Life has a unique way of tying different threads together. Sometime, they are left untied. There's comment on how clothes take centerstage instead of the lived/shared experience. Sense of consumption and objectifying life takes away from the deeper connection and being with the experience of living life. The daughter-in-law inherits the goodwill, while the daughter takes the goods. The movie reflects on the isolation and increasing loneliness of ageing. It ends with a sense of loss, stillness and depth – all signifying old age.
Review of Tokyo Story
