Tokyo Story

"As long as life goes on, relationships between parents and children will bring boundless joy and endless grief."

1953 2h 17m JA

🙌

8.1

BANGER

★8.1TMDB · 1,270

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“As long as life goes on, relationships between parents and children will bring boundless joy and endless grief.”

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Cast

Chishū Ryū
Shukichi Hirayama
Chieko Higashiyama
Tomi Hirayama
Setsuko Hara
Noriko Hirayama
Haruko Sugimura
Shige Kaneko
So Yamamura
Koichi Hirayama
Kuniko Miyake
Fumiko Hirayama
Kyōko Kagawa
Kyoko Hirayama
Eijirō Tōno
Numata

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Yasujirō Ozu
Writers: Kōgo Noda, Yasujirō Ozu
Languages: English, Japanese
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

73 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Japanese.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Yasujirō Ozu, shot by Yûharu Atsuta. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Takanobu Saitō. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Yoshiyasu Hamamura shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Chishū Ryū and Chieko Higashiyama and Setsuko Hara carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "As long as life goes on, relationships between parents and children will bring boundless joy and endless grief.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0046438 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Yasujirō Ozu directs. Yûharu Atsuta behind the camera. Takanobu Saitō scores. Yoshiyasu Hamamura cuts. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in English, Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

173 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Japanese.
3Directed by Yasujirō Ozu, shot by Yûharu Atsuta. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Takanobu Saitō. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Yoshiyasu Hamamura shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Chishū Ryū and Chieko Higashiyama and Setsuko Hara carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "As long as life goes on, relationships between parents and children will bring boundless joy and endless grief.".
8IMDB entry: tt0046438 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 31 themes, including "fish", "beach", "dreams", "baby".
10Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Yûharu Atsuta
Original score: Takanobu Saitō
Editing: Yoshiyasu Hamamura
Production design: Tatsuo Hamada
Costume design: Taizô Saitô
Runtime: 137 min · 2h 17m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: JA
IMDB: Tokyo Story (1953)

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Yasujirō Ozu

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Community reviews

What people are saying

tmdb476334912018-04-21
★ 6/10
A necessary film, in the way that vegetables are necessary.
CinemaSerf2023-07-26
★ 7/10
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.