GENERATION GAP. The Northwest Film Center is presenting legendary
Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu’s seminal Noriko Trilogy this month. The
films, which address the generational gaps in the Japanese family dynamic,
are considered among the celebrated director’s finest. Tokyo Story
(pictured), the final installment of the trilogy, screens July 10 and 11.
(Photo courtesy of the Northwest Film Center)
From The Asian Reporter, V20, #19 (July 5, 2010), page 15.
Distance measured in years: Ozu’s meditation on generational change and
the meaning of family
Tokyo Story
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu
Produced by Takeshi Yamamoto
1953, 134 minutes
Screening July 10 and July 11 at the
Northwest Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium
By Ian Blazina
The Asian Reporter
Opening with a scene of children walking to school and a train headed
east through a neighborhood in Onomichi in southwestern Japan, Yasujiro
Ozu’s Tokyo Story unfolds a quiet family drama into a meditation on
generational change, the vagaries of progress, and the meaning to us of
those we love. Set in a period where Japan was being restored from the ashes
of World War II and negotiating a new identity, the themes of Ozu’s classic
film remain particularly relevant in our increasingly frenetic world.
Two elderly parents (played by Chieko Higashiyama and Chishû Ryû, who are
featured prominently in many of Ozu’s films) take a train eastbound to Tokyo
— a kind of dream vacation for many at the time — to visit their children.
Prior to departing, a neighbor remarks that the couple’s children have all
turned out so well, becoming successful in the city.
As the film progresses, it becomes clear a heavy price has been paid for
success: While the couple’s children are mostly deferential to their
parents, they are busy in their rather ordinary lives and seem quite
detached. Unable or unwilling to make time for their parents, they call on
Noriko, the widow of their dead brother (played by Setsuko Hara, one of
Japan’s most admired actresses, who celebrated her 90th birthday this past
June) to entertain their parents.
Throughout the story, it is Noriko rather than the parents’ own blood who
shows real humanity toward the family.
Ozu unravels the story at his typically quiet, composed pace, using low
camera angles and unmoving long takes to create a sense of intimacy within
the family. Silent pauses and deflected questions carry weighty meaning and
the minutiae of family dynamics are simultaneously personalized and
abstracted to examinations of larger ideals. That the characters are
portrayed so realistically makes the reflections all the more powerful.
Neither parents nor children are beyond reproach, a notion demonstrated
by the elder daughter’s scheming and the father’s drinking. In one scene,
where the father goes out boozing with old colleagues, the friends lament
their children lost to war and also lost to post-war lives while a brassy
military march plays in the background. This is not the world of neat, happy
endings, but rather a world where life is frequently disappointing and
sources of happiness are only fully appreciated when they are gone.
There is little that can be said of this outstanding film in such a short
review that has not been discussed by film critics throughout the decades,
who have frequently counted Tokyo Story among the best films ever
made. Be sure to rearrange your schedule to see the film onscreen while it
is in town.
Tokyo Story, the final installment of Yasujiro Ozu’s Noriko Trilogy,
screens on Saturday, July 10 at 8:30pm and Sunday, July 11 at 7:00pm. The
first film of the trilogy, Late Spring, screens Friday, July 9 at
7:00pm and Sunday, July 11 at 2:00pm. The second film, Early Summer,
plays Saturday, July 10 at 6:00pm and Sunday, July 11 at 4:30pm. All
screenings take place at the Portland Art Museum’s Whitsell Auditorium,
located at 1219 S.W. Park Avenue in Portland. To learn more, call (503)
221-1156 or visit <www.nwfilm.org>.
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