Tokyo Story by Yasujiro Ozu :: Japan Japanese Film Cinema Movies

Tokyo Story was directed by Yasujiro Ozu and released in Japan in1953. It is close an old married equal that travels to Tokyo to visit theirchildren. They are greeted warmly, but are treated as if they are just anannoying sidetrack from the childrens restless lives. The mother becomes illand dies soon after they return home, leaving the family to reflect on hervisit. Some striking fits include the grandmother dreaming of her futureduring a walk with her grandson, the old couples visit to a spa, and threeold men discussing the failure of the future generations. The subject matterof the story consists of a social commentary on Japanese middle-classfamily life and more acutely, an examination of human mortality, alienation,and modernity.The main contention of Ozus unique style of order is theimportance of mutually supportive formal and stylistic systems, a contentionthat is absent from the classical Hollywood films of this period. Whereas inmost of the movies of this time the styli stic aspects would be subordinate tothe narrative, the systemics of Ozu coexist in low-levelly of one another.This inimitable quality of Tokyo Story can be reflected on through theexamination of continuity, transition, and the discretion of the non-diegeticfilmic properties. The retainer of these elements suggests that astylistically driven film can succeed regardless of the degree of narrativemotivation.The freedom of the stylistic system to not be dependent on thenarrative creates the distinctive spatial and temporal aspects of TokyoStory. The intentional discontinuity of the diegetic world is accomplishedmainly by the use of non-traditional editing. Ozus disregard of the urgency of respecting the conventions of the graphic match and the 180-degree line contribute to the originality of the film. For example, one of theopening sequences in the movie is a conversation between the marriedcouple that by choice cuts back and forth over the 180-degree line ineach successive shot. The e ffect of this technique is that each characterachieves perpendicularity with the camera, which creates the illusion thatthe characters are intercommunicate directly to the audience. This contributes tothe viewers involvement in the world created in front of the camera.Another example is the introductory dialogue between the old couple andtheir daughters family. An entirely different style was employed for thisscene in which every character is in the frame at once. Ozu conveysthrough this scene his ability to layout a complex shot construction andperform scene manipulation. Despite the seeming disregard for the typicalcontinuity, driven by eye-line matches and montage, this film achieves astylistic originality and independence that complements the narrative rather