10 Classic Films That Actually Live Up To Their Legendary Status
2. Tokyo Story
A simple tale of two parents that go and visit their adult children in Tokyo to see how they are doing and how their lives truly are.
There is nothing showy or consequential to Tokyo Story outside the lives of the ordinary people depicted in it. Yet, there is no film that shows life in the same way. Tokyo Story is Yashuhira Orzu's masterpiece, quiet and yet powerful without ever needing to be loud.
As we follow Mother and Father around with them seeing how their children and grandchildren are in their day to day lives, there is everything from tragedy to hilarity, beauty to pain. The final scenes with Father and his long-widowed daughter-in-law Noriko are as powerful and emotional as any put to the screen in any country around the world.
The thematic tone of Tokyo Story is universal to the idiosyncrasies of life, that it can be both compromising and happy, painful but joyous. Ozu's film stands up today as a masterpiece of understated storytelling and you can feel its influence on more modern films such as Lost In Translation.
In short, Tokyo Story is one of the original films that translated to western cinema and proved that not everything needed more than a room and dialogue.