3/13 -- Tokyo Story -- Yasujiro Ozu -- 1953
A profoundly stirring evocation of elemental humanity and universal heartbreak, Tokyo Story is the crowning achievement of the unparalleled Yasujiro Ozu. The film, which follows an aging couple’s journey to visit their grown children in bustling postwar Tokyo, surveys the rich and complex world of family life with the director’s customary delicacy and incisive perspective on social mores. Featuring lovely performances from Ozu regulars Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara, Tokyo Story plumbs and deepens the director’s recurring theme of generational conflict, creating what is without question one of cinema’s mightiest masterpieces.
I slept in a little late and we're still in the midst of watching this wonderfully endearing masterpiece by one of the all time great directors on the Criterion DVD release which has a 2nd disc that contains a feature length documentary. I've heard about 10 times now that dad couldn't sleep and sit on the floor, but he's fast asleep, so I can pause and share this little moment with you all here, it would be great if there was a Blu-ray set of all of Ozu's films, I have some of his finest like Late Spring, and Floating Weeds, some of his silents too, and his final film Autumn Afternoon. Like Fassbinder he uses the same actors and you can get to see them as a kind of family, familiar faces you come to love and miss even when you don't put in these films for awhile. Ozu's cinema is simple, but contains immense human emotions.
side note -- if my festival goes well I might be getting 4 Criterion Blu-rays when my money comes in Stalker and Mirror by Tarkovsky, and Seven Samurai and Throne of Blood by Kurosawa.
46-50, M
