Tokyo Story (Tôkyô monogatari) (1953)
97%RT Audience Score: 93%
Awards & Nominations: NA
Tokyo Story is a Yasujiro Ozu masterpiece whose rewarding complexity has lost none of its power more than half a century on.
Tokyo Story is like a fine wine that only gets better with age. Yasujiro Ozu really outdid himself with this one, creating a masterpiece that still packs a punch over 50 years later. It’s like a puzzle that you can’t help but keep coming back to, trying to unravel all the layers of complexity. And let’s be real, who doesn’t love a good challenge? So if you’re in the mood for a movie that will make you think, feel, and maybe even shed a tear or two, Tokyo Story is definitely worth checking out.
Production Company(ies)
Shochiku
Distributor
New Yorker Films, Shochiku Films Ltd., DeA Planeta S.L., Criterion Collection
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Osaka, Japan
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
1972
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Mono
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Aspect ratio:1.37 : 1
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Runtime:2h 14m
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Language(s):Japanese, English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Nov 3, 1953 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 4, 2003
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Chishu Ryu, Chieko Higashiyama, Setsuko Hara, Sô Yamamura, Haruko Sugimura, Kuniko Miyake, directed by Yasujirô Ozu, written by Kôgo Noda, Yasujirô Ozu, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Christian Blauvelt, Eric Hynes, Wally Hammond, Tim Robey, Kevin Maher, Anthony Quinn, directed by Yasujirô Ozu, produced by Takeshi Yamamoto, MPAA rating, New Yorker Films, Shochiku Films Ltd., DeA Planeta S.L., Criterion Collection, Tokyo Story, Yasujiro Ozu, family, aging, postwar Japan, generational conflict, cultural change, human connection, love, loss, grief, acceptance, family ties, emotional, heartwarming, poignant, powerful, timeless, masterpiece, Japanese cinema, long shots, knee-high camera placement, collapsed perspective, mono sound mix, 2h 14m runtime
Worldwide gross: $40,468
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $321,195
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,836
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 35,027
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Chieko Higashiyama – Tomi Hirayama
Setsuko Hara – Noriko Hirayama
Haruko Sugimura – Shige Kaneko
Sô Yamamura – Koichi Hirayama
Kuniko Miyake – Fumiko Hirayama
Director(s)
Yasujirô Ozu
Writer(s)
Kôgo Noda, Yasujirô Ozu
Producer(s)
Takeshi Yamamoto
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (49) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (49)
In this exquisite merging of specific and universal, infinite and infinitesimal, Tokyo Story perhaps most clearly illuminates that Ozu is not the most Japanese of filmmakers, but the most human.
November 24, 2010 | Rating: 4/4
Christian Blauvelt
Slant Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Ozu’s long shots, knee-high camera placement, and collapsed perspective — as gorgeous and unsettling as a Cézanne — gather power over the duration, but time itself is the master’s most potent weapon.
November 23, 2010
Eric Hynes
Village Voice
TOP CRITIC
This remains one of the most approachable and moving of all cinema’s masterpieces.
January 5, 2010 | Rating: 5/5
Wally Hammond
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Ozu may have made subtler films, but the clarity of his social critique here is wrenching and unassailable.
January 5, 2010 | Rating: 5/5
Tim Robey
Daily Telegraph (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Ostensibly a snapshot of postwar Japan in the midst of profound cultural change, it is the movie’s painful depiction of familial disintegration that remains universal today.
January 5, 2010 | Rating: 4/5
Kevin Maher
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Ozu only has to train his camera on a face to uncover a sense of resignation, or longing, or loneliness, and the mood, if you allow it, becomes quite overwhelming.
January 5, 2010 | Rating: 5/5
Anthony Quinn
Independent (UK)
TOP CRITIC
‘Tokyo Story’ is over 50 years old, depicts a foreign land and culture, and yet continues to resonate with audiences far and wide.
May 25, 2021 | Rating: 5/5
Michael J. Casey
Boulder Weekly
This is one of the best Ozu films I have ever seen, a very powerful shomin-geki oeuvre about the decomposition of the family in postwar Japan westernized society. [Full review in Spanish]
October 2, 2020 | Rating: 8/10
Yasser Medina
Cinemaficionados
Ozu’s film is a beautiful piece of art and cinema.
July 14, 2020 | Rating: 5/5
Kelechi Ehenulo
VultureHound
A nuanced tale of family ties and growing apart.
June 15, 2020
Rob Aldam
Backseat Mafia
Ozu counters the interiority of the drama with just enough hints of the outside world to reflect the irreparable passing of time which is so crucial to the film’s sentiment.
April 27, 2020 | Rating: 5/5
PJ Nabarro
Patrick Nabarro
If everyone in the world took the time to watch Tokyo Story, there would be no more wars, negativity or Twitter. There would only be love, life and lots of sake.
April 5, 2020
Asher Luberto
L.A. Weekly…
Plot
Elderly couple Shukishi and Tomi Hirayama live in the small coastal village of Onomichi, Japan with their youngest daughter, schoolteacher Kyoko Hirayama. Their other three surviving adult children, who they have not seen in quite some time, live either in Tokyo or Osaka. As such, Shukishi and Tomi make the unilateral decision to have an extended visit in Tokyo with their children, pediatrician Koichi Hirayama and beautician Shige Kaneko, and their respective families (which includes two grandchildren). In transit, they make an unexpected stop in Osaka and stay with their other son, Keiso Hirayama. All of their children treat the visit more as an obligation than a want, each trying to figure out what to do with their parents while they continue on with their own daily lives. At one point, they even decide to ship their parents off to an inexpensive resort at Atami Hot Springs rather than spend time with them. The only offspring who makes a concerted effort on this trip is Noriko Hirayama, their widowed daughter-in-law, whose husband, Shoji Hirayama, was killed eight years earlier in the war. Following the vacation, each child comes to some conclusion of their general behavior toward their parents, not only on this trip but throughout their entire adult lives. For some, this realization may come too late.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The cast of Tokyo Story includes Chishu Ryu, Chieko Higashiyama, Setsuko Hara, Haruko Sugimura, and Sô Yamamura.
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