A constant fixture in critics’ polls, Tokyo Storyis Yasujiro Ozu’s most enduring masterpiece and a beautifully nuanced exploration of filial duty, expectation and regret. From the simple tale of an elderly couple’s visit to their grown-up children in Tokyo, Ozu draws a compelling contrast between the measured dignity of age and the hurried insensitivity of a younger generation.
Also included here is Ozu’s incisive satire Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941), which explores similar themes as, following the death of her husband, Mrs Toda and her youngest daughter receive a frosty reception from extended family.
Extras
Remastered in 4K with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack
An Introduction to Tokyo Story (2020, 26 mins): Asian-cinema expert Tony Rayns provides an introduction to Ozu’s most acclaimed film
Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941, 105 mins): following the death of her husband, Mrs Toda realises she has been left with sizeable debts and an extended family reluctant to support her
Talking with Ozu (1993, 40 mins): a tribute to the legendary director featuring filmmakers Lindsay Anderson, Claire Denis, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Aki Kaurismäki, Stanley Kwan, Paul Schrader and Wim Wenders
Furnival and Son (1948, 19 mins): recounts the difficult choice a recently demobbed serviceman has to make between an unexpected job offer elsewhere, and resuming his pre-war position as his father’s right-hand man in their small cutlery firm, Furnival and Son
