Tokyo Story (1953)

Told in Yasujirō Ozu’s simple and elegant style, this story of intergenerational discord is heartbreaking and deeply human.

The later films of Japanese master Yasujiro Ozu are marked by a striking uniformity of theme and form. These are stories of family life involving inevitable rupture, as things change, daughters marry, widowers grow old. Ozu films this bittersweet natural progression in his unmistakably controlled, minimal style, typified by head-on shots with the camera at the height of a seated observer. Tokyo Story is the best known (in the West) of this extraordinary cycle, a quietly tragic tale of an ageing couple coming to the painful realisation that their family no longer needs them.

Luminous Ozu regular Setsuko Hara plays daughter-in-law Noriko. Although not the same character as the Norikos she plays in Late Spring (1949) and Early Summer (1951), the films are considered a loose trilogy.

“A brilliant film on generational change, a society in transition and what it means to feel you are no longer needed. Ozu is always the filmmaker to turn to if you want to see how to do more with less – the filmmaker of the quotidian, melding economy and intensity to extraordinary effect.” Maria Delgado

“The evocative power of this film remains intact. The soft melancholy, the passage of time, the understanding of life as a spiritual adventure. All from the adventures and misadventures of a family. So simple, so complex.” Pedro Adrián Zuluaga

“A profound film. Ozu’s Zen style at its simplest and most sublime.” Patrick McGilligan

“A film full of wisdom, understanding and acceptance of life that never ceases to move and amaze. A beautiful heartbreak of a movie.” José Arroyo

“A psychologically healing film, a magically calming one.” Saleem Albeik

“This extraordinary study of ageing, mortality and family life (among other things) has that unforgettable moment: ‘Isn’t life disappointing?’ – ‘Yes’ (with a smile).” Geoff Andrew

“Its reputation for greatness is beyond deserved but canonisation also risks smothering its still live charge, pinning behind glass a work of art that still has the power to astonish, disrupt and shatter. Few works have ever been as capable of expressing the exquisite beauty and prevailing intolerability of living.” Eric Hynes

“Poignancy, regret and sadness come through all the keener by virtue of the restraint of performance, composition and editing.” Richard Dyer

“A film brimming with restrained emotion, which is unleashed through a level of unparalleled film craftsmanship. The model on which many of the world’s greatest films are based.” Akira Mizuta Lippit

“Ozu’s films always feel deceptively simple, despite their unusual framing and editing structures. It’s not just his mastery of cinema as a form that’s so impressive but the sheer humanity and compassion with which he manages to fill his films.” David Morrison

“A gently tragic film about the wheel turning.” Tom Ryan

“As you watch, it seems nothing is happening. When it’s over you realise you’ve just seen an encyclopedia of the human condition.” Charles Ramírez Berg

1953 Japan
Directed by
Yasujirō Ozu
Produced by
Takeshi Yamamoto
Written by
Kogo Noda, Yasujirō Ozu
Featuring
Chishu Ryu, Chieko Higashiyama, Setsuko Hara
Running time
135 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for Tokyo Story

Critics

Mohammed Hashem Abdel-Salam
Egypt
Panos Achtsioglou
Greece
Mark Adams
UK
Ian Aitken
Hong Kong
Saleem Albeik
Palestine/France
Geoff Andrew
UK
João Antunes
Portugal
José Arroyo
Spain/UK
Jon Asp
Sweden
Abbas Baharloo
Iran
Karan Bali
India
Rebecca Barden
UK
Janet Baris
Turkey
Luciano Barisone
Switzerland/Italy
Ivo Blom
Netherlands
Camille Blot-Wellens
France/Sweden
Stuart Brown
UK
Esther Buss
Germany
Emilio Bustamante
Peru
Dave Calhoun
UK
Noël Carroll
USA
Massimo Causo
Italy
Karen Chan
Singapore
Justin Chang
USA
Carlo Chatrian
Italy
Saibal Chatterjee
India
Peggy Chiao
Taiwan/China
Thomas C. Christensen
Denmark
Shane Danielsen
USA
Manohla Dargis
USA
Robert Daudelin
Canada
Tom Dawson
UK
Maria Delgado
UK
Shivendra Singh Dungarpur
India
Jamie Dunn
UK
Shmulik Duvdevani
Israel
Richard Dyer
UK
Klaus Eder
Germany
Swarnavel Eswaran Pillai
USA
Joseph Fahim
Egypt
Dan and Edna Fainaru
Israel
Mihai Fulger
Romania
Filipe Furtado
Brazil
Alfonso Garcia Calvo
Spain
Anne Gjelsvik
Norway
Jamie Graham
UK
Ulrich Gregor
Germany
Tim Grierson
USA
Roman Gutek
Poland
Fahmidul Haq
Bangladesh/USA
Kevin Harley
UK
Carlos F. Heredero
Spain
Andrew Heskins
UK
Phil Hoad
UK/France
Jan Holmberg
Sweden
Jan-Christopher Horak
USA
Philip Horne
UK
Peter Hourigan
Australia
Peter Howell
Canada
José Antonio Hurtado Alvarez
Spain
Adam Hyman
USA
Eric Hynes
USA
Nachman Ingber
Israel
Dina Iordanova
Bulgaria/UK
Larushka Ivan-Zadeh
UK
Juliet Jacques
UK
Sheila Johnston
UK
Namrata Joshi
India
Sten Kauber
Estonia
Jessica Kiang
Germany
Jordan King
UK
James Kleinmann
USA
Georgia Korossi
UK/Greece
Ryan Krivoshey
USA
Esin Küçüktepepınar
Turkey
Jay Kuehner
USA
Annette Kuhn
UK
Tomris Laffly
USA
Jan Langlo
Norway
Edward Lawrenson
UK
Dong-jin Lee
South Korea
Tomer Levy
United Kingdom
Helena Lindblad
Sweden
Sebastian Lindvall
Sweden
Akira Mizuta Lippit
USA
Dario Llinares
UK
Paul Lynch
Ireland
Geoffrey Macnab
UK
Eri Mahihara
Japan
Frédéric Maire
Switzerland
Mike Mashon
USA
Peter Matthews
UK
Joseph McBride
USA
Patrick McGilligan
USA
Daniela Michel
Mexico
Robert Mitchell
UK
Andrea Morán
Spain
David Morrison
UK
Lynda Myles
UK
Amitava Nag
India
Lucia Nagib
UK
Markus Nornes
USA
Derek O'Connor
Ireland
Darcy Paquet
USA
David Parkinson
UK
Bina Paul Venugopal
India
Alastair Phillips
UK
Michael Phillips
USA
Nenad Polimac
Croatia
Charles Ramírez Berg
USA
Carlos Reviriego
Spain
Laurence Reymond
France
Kong Rithdee
Thailand
Adam Roberts
UK
David Rooney
USA
Céline Ruivo
France
Tom Ryan
Australia
Cristian Saldía
Chile
Caspar Salmon
UK
Libby Saxton
UK
James Schamus
USA
Meenakshi Shedde
India
Michael Sicinski
USA
Paulo Henrique Silva
Brazil
Malena Solarz
Argentina
Kate Stables
UK
Janet Staiger
USA
Isabel Stevens
UK
Marko Stojiljković
Serbia/Croatia/Slovenia
Sarah Street
UK
Eduardo Stupía
Argentina
Teet Teinemaa
Estonia
Scott Tobias
USA
J. M. Tyree
USA
Maria Ulfsak-Šeripova
Estonia
Víctor J. Vázquez
Spain
Sanjeev Verma
India
Nuria Vidal
Spain
Becca Voelcker
UK
Jendrik Walendy
Germany
Alissa Wilkinson
USA
Melanie Williams
UK
Emilie Yeh Yueh-Yu
China/Hong Kong
Pedro Adrián Zuluaga
Colombia

Directors

Phuttiphong Aroonpheng
Thailand
Richard Ayoade
UK
Guillaume Brac
France
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Turkey
Anthony Chen
Singapore
Mong-Hong Chung
Taiwan
Edwin Edwin
Indonesia
Atom Egoyan
Canada
Homer Etminani
Colombia/Spain
Richard Eyre
UK
Asghar Farhadi
Iran
Adoor Gopalakrishnan
India
Scott Graham
USA
James Gray
David Hare
UK
Moin Hussain
UK
Ifa Isfansyah
Indonesia
- Kogonada
USA
Umesh Kulkarni
India
Juho Kuosmanen
Finland
Stanley Kwan
Hong Kong
Mike Leigh
UK
Jackie Lentzou
Greece
Ruijun Li
China
Carlos Marqués-Marcet
Spain
Steve McQueen
UK
Ilian Metev
Bulgaria/Germany/UK
Marley Morrison
UK
Frances O'Connor
UK/Australia
Joanna Priestley
USA
Sanjeewa Pushpakumara
Sri Lanka
Riri Riza
Indonesia
Walter Salles
Brazil
Paul Schrader
US
Subrata Sen
India
Kazuhiro Soda
Japan
Béla Tarr
Hungary
Rudolf Thome
Germany
Maryam Touzani
Morocco
Laura Waddington
UK
Lulu Wang
USA
Wash Westmoreland
USA
Sergio Wolf
Argentina
Wang Xiaoshuai
China
Heng Yang
China
Liang Zhao
China

Articles related to Tokyo Story

Features

The enigmatic ‘pillow shots’ of Yasujiro Ozu

By Leigh Singer

The enigmatic ‘pillow shots’ of Yasujiro Ozu
From the Sight and Sound archive

Ozu Yasujiro, tofu maker

By Tony Rayns

Ozu Yasujiro, tofu maker
The Greatest Films of All Time

The Greatest Films of All Time

The Greatest Films of All Time
Load more

Subscribe to BFI Player to access more films like this

Start with a 14-day free trial then only £4.99 a month - cancel any time.

Explore subscription on BFI Player