Tôkyô monogatari (1953)

Director:

Yasujiro Ozu

Writers:

Kôgo Noda (writer)
Yasujiro Ozu (writer)

Release Date:

13 March 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

An old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city; but the children have little time for them.

Plot Keywords:

Selfishness | Elderly | Office | Waiting | Old Age

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Chishû Ryû	...	Shukishi Hirayama
Chieko Higashiyama	...	Tomi Hirayama
Setsuko Hara	...	Noriko Hirayama
Haruko Sugimura	...	Shige Kaneko
Sô Yamamura	...	Koichi Hirayama
Kuniko Miyake	...	Fumiko Hirayama - his wife
Kyôko Kagawa	...	Kyoko Hirayama
Eijirô Tôno	...	Sanpei Numata
Nobuo Nakamura	...	Kurazo Kaneko
Shirô Osaka	...	Keiso Hirayama
Hisao Toake	...	Osamu Hattori
Teruko Nagaoka	...	Yone Hattori
Mutsuko Sakura	...	Patron of the Oden Restaurant
Toyo Takahashi	...	Shukichi Hirayama's Neighbor (as Toyoko Takahashi)
Tôru Abe	...	Train employee
Sachiko Mitani	...	Noriko's Neighbor
Zen Murase	...	Minoru Hirayama - Koichi's son
Mitsuhiro Mori	...	Isamu Hirayama - Koichi's son
Junko Anan	...	Beauty Salon Assistant
Ryoko Mizuki	...	Biyôin no kyaku
Yoshiko Togawa	...	Beauty Salon Client
Kazuhiro Itokawa	...	Student - guest at Hattori's house
Keijiro Morozumi	...	Police agent
Tsutomu Nijima	...	Noriko's office boss
Shozo Suzuki	...	Noriko's office colleague
Yoshiko Tashiro	...	Hotel maid
Haruko Chichibu	...	Hotel maid
Takashi Miki	...	Singer
Binnosuke Nagao	...	Doctor at Onomichi

Directed by
Yasujiro Ozu

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Kôgo Noda		writer
Yasujiro Ozu		writer

Produced by
Takeshi Yamamoto	....	producer

Original Music by
Kojun Saitô

Cinematography by
Yuuharu Atsuta

Film Editing by
Yoshiyasu Hamamura

Production Design by
Tatsuo Hamada
Itsuo Takahashi

Costume Design by
Taizo Saito

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Shohei Imamura	....	first assistant director

Production Companies

• Shôchiku Eiga

Distributors

• Shôchiku Eiga (1953) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Shochiku Home Video (2003) (Japan) (DVD) (box-set)
• Shochiku Home Video (2007) (Japan) (DVD)
• Aito Mäkinen & Co (1964) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Svensk Filmindustri (SF) (1964) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• trigon-film (2007) (Austria) (theatrical)
• trigon-film (2007) (Germany) (theatrical)
• trigon-film (2007) (Switzerland) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Criterion Collection, The (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• DeA Planeta Home Entertainment (Spain)
• Madman Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (New Zealand) (all media)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV) (1966) (Finland) (TV)
• New Yorker Films (1972) (USA) (subtitled)
• Sandrew Metronome Distribution (2009) (Finland) (DVD)
• Tartan (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• YLE Teema (2005) (Finland) (TV)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1981) (Finland) (TV)
• trigon-film (2007) (Switzerland) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Tokyo Story (USA)

Runtime:

136 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Brazil:18 | Hong Kong:I | Sweden:Btl | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:S | UK:U | Spain:T | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Atami, Shizuoka, Japan

Company:

Shôchiku Eiga

Trivia:

The original negative was lost soon after the film was completed, due to a fire at the vault of the lab in Yokohama city. The film had to be released using prints made from a dupe protective negative.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The "dead" mother is visibly breathing.

Quotes:

Kyoko: Isn't life disappointing?
Noriko: [smiles] Yes, it is.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Shijie (2004)

FANTASTIC

I need to say this: THIS MOVIE IS ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!! Sure it starts off slowly, but the fact of the matter is the film is a great story of a family and the alienation associated with aging. This is the kind of movie that will make you reflect upon your own family and how you treat them.

I had never seen an Ozu film before, but now I feel as if I must see them all. His use of cinematic space is incredible. He breaks all sorts of conventions with his cinematography such as violating the axis of action. This gives the viewer the sense of a large, open, unrestricted world.

Going with this realism, the characters seem real; not for a moment did I see the people on the screen as actors. They were the family, and you as the viewer feels what they feel. Part of this comes from the use of head-on-shots such that the characters are speaking TO you.

It is a fantastic, moving piece of work and arguably one of the best films ever made.