Word: ozu
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...give our life meaning, and to fight society's greatest crime of stealing this meaning away. But her condemnation is born of her disgust with the whole capitalist "system" that destroys old and young alike. In his masterful film. "Tokyo Story" (made in 1953 but only later released) Yasujiro Ozu draws no such socialist conclusions, although to him the continual "meaning of life" is even more sacred than to de Beauvoir. He draws no conclusions at all. Not compromising the simplicity of presenting things as they are he thereby forces his audience to form its own judgements. Ozu tells...
Like most Ozu films. "Tokyo Story" is about the increasing contrasts between old and new Japan. And like all Ozu films, the plot is so plain, despite its variety of psychological and emotional levels, that it can be summarized as an anecdote. An old couple leave their home in the port-town of Shimonoseki their children in Tokyo. But there they are intruders in spite of a fond reception, there is no place for them in their children's homes, and they are sent away to vacation at some hot springs resort. The boisterous carryings-on of young people drive...
...LIKE A DREAM to be in Tokyo," the grandmother remarks upon arrival. "I never realized it was so close." These words imply how Ozu illustrates the incipient disintegration of the Japanese family system. Tempo, life-style, mood and environment are so different in Tokyo, that the short train trip from their home creates an in surmountable gap for the old people between their customs and the modern ways of their children. The old man looks very uncomfortable and slightly ridiculous in his Western-style travelling suit, and immediately changes into his kimono upon entering his son's house. His wife...
...Ozu's film technique is instrumental in delineating both the visible and hidden contrasts that are splintering the family--and all of Japanese society. He directs transitions from one locale to another by introducing each new scene with a shot not only loaded with symbolism, but prolonged to the extent that it almost becomes a still. After the opening scene in Shimonoseki, the shift to Tokyo is indicated by the stark image of smokestacks against a smutty sky, and the title "an industrial neighborhood in Tokyo." Setting the mood for each episode with similarly fitting images, Ozu unrolls a cinematic...
...cannot serve one's parents beyond the grave," sobs her youngest son at her funeral. This is her final gift to her children, rather than a reproof. Like Ozu, she realizes that, in modern Japan, they have neither the time nor the means to serve their parents, their ancestors, their family traditions. Her quiet death creates little stir, and is over so quickly that the inconvenience to her family is minimal. Left alone in the end, her husband is still surrounded by the rich web of time Ozu has managed to weave by his story. The family never speaks...