Tokyo Story (1953)

8.2 /10
1217 Reviews

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The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.

Videos & Photos

Tokyo Story

cast

... Shukichi Hirayama

... Tomi Hirayama

... Noriko Hirayama

... Shige Kaneko

... Koichi Hirayama

User reviews

A necessary film, in the way that vegetables are necessary.

Director:

Yasujirō Ozu

Writer:

Kōgo Noda (Screenplay)

Yasujirō Ozu (Screenplay)

Genres:

Drama

Release Date:

1953-11-03

Run Time:

137 min

Reviews of

Tokyo Story

Found 2 reviews in total

A necessary film, in the way that vegetables are necessary.

An elderly couple leave their small fishing village to travel to Tokyo to visit their children and grandchildren. Armed with a small packed lunch and the most perfectly packed suitcase you will ever see, they embark on their train journey to the metropolis. Once there they discover that though they are welcome enough, their paediatrician son "Koichi" (Sô Yamamura) and his beautician sister "Shige" (Haruko Sugimura) are pretty much caught up in their own lives and have little time to spend with their parents. In a land where duty is everything, this film depicts the rather unfeeling, though never callous, way in which the elderly pair are bundled from pillar to post, to a spa populated by youngsters and ultimately into the care of their widowed daughter-in-law "Noriko" (Setsuko Hara) who makes time to look after and try to entertain them. The film takes it's time. The delicate performances from the older couple are a joy to watch, especially once he "Shukichi" (Chishû Ryû) has had some saki with his friends; and she "Tomi" (Chieko Higashiyama) is superb as the long suffering, kindly, wife who has a stoicism that is both entertaining and laudable. It all comes to an head in quite a sadly poignant fashion, allowing the brief appearance of their other son "Keiso" (Shirô Ôsaka) for a conclusion that is both depressing and yet oddly fitting. This is beautifully crafted observation of changing family dynamics, or priorities and of, well, just taking people for granted.

Cast & Crew of

Tokyo Story

Cast

... Shukichi Hirayama

... Tomi Hirayama

... Noriko Hirayama

... Shige Kaneko

... Koichi Hirayama

... Fumiko Hirayama

... Kyoko Hirayama

... Numata

... Kurazo Kaneko

... Keizo Hirayama

... Osamu Hattori

... Yone Hattori

... Oden Restaurant Woman

... Woman Next Door

... Railway Staff

... Apartment Owner

... Beauty Salon Customer

... Policeman

... Office Worker

... Inn Maid

... Tuyautashi

... Doctor

... Minoru Hirayama

... Isamu Hirayama

... Hospital Patient

... Inspired Man

... Mahjong Player

Crew

... Director

... Art Direction

... Original Music Composer

... Costume Design

... Editor

... Production Design

... Producer

... Director of Photography

... Lighting Technician

... Film Processor

... Set Designer

... Script Supervisor

... Set Dresser

... Assistant Camera

... Second Assistant Director

... Sound Assistant

... Sound Engineer

... Sound Recordist

... Screenplay

... Screenplay

... Assistant Director

... Assistant Director

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