Read, Listen, Watch

 Tokyo Story (1953) is a film from Japan by one of the country’s master filmmakers, Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963), who, in the last fifteen years of his career, made some of the most simplistic and quiet films you will encounter in a medium so accustomed to movement and action. It is the story of two aging parents who make a trip to visit their children, who live in and around Tokyo, and a daughter-in-law, who was married to a fourth son, now deceased. The children each have various agendas in their lives and grow tired of their parent’s presence; they send their parents to a spa outside Tokyo, in a clear attempt to simply get them off their hands. Ironically, it appears to be the daughter-in-law who is the most devoted to her in-laws. But then the mother falls ill, and the entire family is forced to draw themselves back together. Ozu’s films firmly introduced domestic situations in to cinema; though of course there had been domestic dramas in cinema before, no filmmaker had realized that such a genre worked best when it was static, straightforward and as unsentimental as possible. Ozus’ films are famous for their camera angles placed low to the floor, similar to the way the Japanese regularly sit on the floor rather than chairs. In his films, shots are repeated again and again, though often without any change or further decoration;  they serve a more metaphysical purpose. His actors perform their parts with intense understatement. These are not common techniques in film, and Ozu’s films have never been as popular as the films of his contemporary, Akira Kurosawa precisely because of their stylistic opposition; Kurosawa’s actors were bombastic, Ozu’s were not; Kurosawa’s camera was constantly moving, Ozu’s was not; Kurosawa worked in a variety of genres that called for more sensationalism and brio; Ozu was an artist of domesticity. Despite this, Ozu has had something of an influence, even on some contemporary directors. Jim Jarmusch’s deadpan compositions recall Ozu’s, and a variety of contmporary Asian filmmakers, such as Hsaio-Hsien Hou are deeply indebted to his films. Even the German filmmakers Wim Wenders has acknowledged Ozu’s profound influence and once made a documentary called Tokyo-Ga, which was an homage to his films. Ozu is a more rigorous director than any of these directors, but watching his best films– also including Late Spring and A Story of the Floating Weeds— are reflective, even relaxing experiences that movies should give us more often.