list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Tokyo Story on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Tokyo_Story/35356/default.aspx Title: Tokyo Story
Year: 1953
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Plot: As with much of director Yasujiro Ozu's work, a plot summary of this film does not do justice to the emotional power that Ozu lends to this sad, understated tale. An elderly couple, Shukichi Hirayama (Chishu Ryu) and Tomi Hirayama (Chieko Higashiyama), leaves their small coastal village in southern Japan to visit their married children in Tokyo. Their eldest son, Koichi (So Yamamura), a doctor running a clinic in a working-class part of town, is too busy to show them around town, and their eldest daughter is occupied with her beauty salon. Only their widowed daughter-in-law Noriko, played memorably by Setsuko Hara, is willing to take time off work to show the couple the sights of Tokyo. The older children arrange for their parents to visit Atami Hot Springs, but the unimpressed couple soon returns to Tokyo. Tomi stays with her daughter-in-law while Shukichi goes out drinking with some of his buddies, and the bunch complain about their vague sense of disappointment towards their children. Later, he stumbles into his daughter Shige's house late at night. On the way back to their village, tragedy strikes. The callous inattention that son and daughter paid to their parents becomes unamendable. Shige and Koichi quickly return to their busy lives in Tokyo after the funeral, as Noriko and youngest daughter Kyoko remain. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 10
Number of Lists: 16
Number of blog posts: 4
SpoutRating: 4
]]>Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:48:29 GMTTokyo Story1953Yasujiro OzuAs with much of director <a href="/players/P___105319/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Yasujiro Ozu</a>'s work, a plot summary of this film does not do justice to the emotional power that Ozu lends to this sad, understated tale. An elderly couple, Shukichi Hirayama (Chishu Ryu) and Tomi Hirayama (Chieko Higashiyama), leaves their small coastal village in southern Japan to visit their married children in Tokyo. Their eldest son, Koichi (<a href="/players/P____77849/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>So Yamamura</a>), a doctor running a clinic in a working-class part of town, is too busy to show them around town, and their eldest daughter is occupied with her beauty salon. Only their widowed daughter-in-law Noriko, played memorably by <a href="/players/P____30276/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Setsuko Hara</a>, is willing to take time off work to show the couple the sights of Tokyo. The older children arrange for their parents to visit Atami Hot Springs, but the unimpressed couple soon returns to Tokyo. Tomi stays with her daughter-in-law while Shukichi goes out drinking with some of his buddies, and the bunch complain about their vague sense of disappointment towards their children. Later, he stumbles into his daughter Shige's house late at night. On the way back to their village, tragedy strikes. The callous inattention that son and daughter paid to their parents becomes unamendable. Shige and Koichi quickly return to their busy lives in Tokyo after the funeral, as Noriko and youngest daughter Kyoko remain. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide10Taggedy Taggged (6-10)1644http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t36586pu0ky.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Tokyo_Story/35356/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/3/12/40986.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 3/12/2009 10:00:56 AM
Body: Tokyo Sonata is a horror film of sorts, but one without the ghosts and serial killers that have populated Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s earlier work. There aren’t even any killer trees, as in Charisma,  or poisonous jellyfish, as in Bright Future. Kurosawa’s films have always offered social commentary, but on their own eccentric terms. Cure responded obliquely to the Aum Shrinyiko subway gas attacks, while Pulse confronted a generation of lonely, Internet-obsessed otaku. Even Kurosawa films with no genre elements, like Bright Future and License To Live, have been pretty off-kilter. Tokyo Sonata’s first two-thirds are startlingly straightforward, commenting directly on Japan’s recession. After the disappointing Retribution, which recycled images and plotlines from Cure and Pulse, Tokyo Sonata marks a real comeback for Kurosawa - his best film since Pulse, made eight years ago - and a new direction. Businessman Ryuhei Sasaki (Teruyuki Kagawa) gets fired in the first few minutes of Tokyo Sonata. He’s a victim of downsizing: his firm has sent his job to China. He doesn’t tell his wife or two sons about this. Instead, he pretends to continue going to work. Everyday, he puts on a suit and tie and goes out to get free food from an open-air soup kitchen. He goes to a temp agency, but he finds only menial work available there. Meanwhile, his wife Megumi (Kyoko Koizumi) stays at home and looks after Takashi (Yu Koyanagi), a college student with little direction in life, and Kenji (Kai Inowaki), a 6th-grader who loves playing piano. Ryuhei eventually takes a job as a shopping mall janitor, but he keeps this from his family, although Megumi sees him in line at the soup kitchen one day and learns his secret. Kenji has some secrets of his own: he uses his lunch money to pay for private piano lessons, since Ryuhei disapproves of this interest. In interviews, Kurosawa stresses that the apocalyptic endings found in many of his films aren’t intended to be completely negative or hopeless. For him, there’s creative potential in the act of destruction. Without the safety nets of genre or metaphor, Tokyo  Sonata examines what it’s like to live through a social collapse. In it, the old, patriarchal values of family life have disintegrated, but nothing has yet arrived to replace them. Ryuhei obviously feels shame about his unemployment, but he’s incapable of expressing it in words. (Kagawa’s tightly clenched jaw  does much of his acting.) He can’t communicate with his children. When Takashi wants to join the U.S. Army, Ruyhei’s offended by his son’s statement that he’s doing so to protect his family, but Ryuhei has no real protection to offer. In school, Tokyo Sonata shows the same breakdown of authority. Kenji gets in trouble for possessing a comic book in the classroom. His anger at being punished for it is justifiable, since half the class had passed it around and he didn’t own it, but he responds by claiming that he saw his teacher reading pornographic comics on the subway. From there, the teacher’s power over his students is completely ruined; in a later scene, they throw confetti around and write “Ero-Bayashi,” mocking his name, on the blackboard. There’s a hint of conservative nostalgia here, but Tokyo Sonata is more concerned with finding solutions to present-day Japanese dilemmas. For its first eighty minutes, Tokyo Sonata is Kurosawa’s first foray into humanist social realism. One can recognize the same worldview present in all his films, but it’s never been expressed so directly before. His earlier work is much colder. Then, Tokyo Sonata goes off the rails, as the Sasaki family becomes separated and spin off in their own directions. Kurosawa proves himself a master of switching tones, balancing tension and humor ably. He also turns the focus away from Ryuhei to Megumi, showing that a housewife’s life is no easier than that of a laid-off salaryman. In Kurosawa’s earlier work, nuclear families are relatively rare. Instead, he focused on isolated loners, usually played by Koji Yakusho. (Yakusho pops up here in a small but crucial role.) At times, Tokyo Sonata presents a savage vision of family life as a charade that’s long since stopped meaning anything to its participants. Still, Ryuhei proves shockingly capable of violence to defend his nonexistent authority. In the end, Kurosawa has the courage to imagine a path out of chaos. For the first time, he shows the other side of apocalypse. Also, he finally seems to have something in common with earlier Japanese directors like Mikio Naruse and Yasujiro Ozu. (Cure and Charisma were unrecognizable as products of the same culture as Ozu’s Tokyo Story.) Ozu chronicled the changes in Japanese family life  from the ‘30s through the early ‘60s; here, Kurosawa does much the same for present-day Japan, finding hope without compromising the force of his critique. For more Tokyo Sonata, see our interview with Kurosawa from the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:00:56 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com3/12/2009 10:00:56 AMTokyo Sonata is a horror film of sorts, but one without the ghosts and serial killers that have populated Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s earlier work. There aren’t even any killer trees, as in Charisma,  or poisonous jellyfish, as in Bright Future. Kurosawa’s films have always offered social commentary, but on their own eccentric terms. Cure responded obliquely to the Aum Shrinyiko subway gas attacks, while Pulse confronted a generation of lonely, Internet-obsessed otaku. Even Kurosawa films with no genre elements, like Bright Future and License To Live, have been pretty off-kilter. Tokyo Sonata’s first two-thirds are startlingly straightforward, commenting directly on Japan’s recession. After the disappointing Retribution, which recycled images and plotlines from Cure and Pulse, Tokyo Sonata marks a real comeback for Kurosawa - his best film since Pulse, made eight years ago - and a new direction. Businessman Ryuhei Sasaki (Teruyuki Kagawa) gets fired in the first few minutes of Tokyo Sonata. He’s a victim of downsizing: his firm has sent his job to China. He doesn’t tell his wife or two sons about this. Instead, he pretends to continue going to work. Everyday, he puts on a suit and tie and goes out to get free food from an open-air soup kitchen. He goes to a temp agency, but he finds only menial work available there. Meanwhile, his wife Megumi (Kyoko Koizumi) stays at home and looks after Takashi (Yu Koyanagi), a college student with little direction in life, and Kenji (Kai Inowaki), a 6th-grader who loves playing piano. Ryuhei eventually takes a job as a shopping mall janitor, but he keeps this from his family, although Megumi sees him in line at the soup kitchen one day and learns his secret. Kenji has some secrets of his own: he uses his lunch money to pay for private piano lessons, since Ryuhei disapproves of this interest. In interviews, Kurosawa stresses that the apocalyptic endings found in many of his films aren’t intended to be completely negative or hopeless. For him, there’s creative potential in the act of destruction. Without the safety nets of genre or metaphor, Tokyo  Sonata examines what it’s like to live through a social collapse. In it, the old, patriarchal values of family life have disintegrated, but nothing has yet arrived to replace them. Ryuhei obviously feels shame about his unemployment, but he’s incapable of expressing it in words. (Kagawa’s tightly clenched jaw  does much of his acting.) He can’t communicate with his children. When Takashi wants to join the U.S. Army, Ruyhei’s offended by his son’s statement that he’s doing so to protect his family, but Ryuhei has no real protection to offer. In school, Tokyo Sonata shows the same breakdown of authority. Kenji gets in trouble for possessing a comic book in the classroom. His anger at being punished for it is justifiable, since half the class had passed it around and he didn’t own it, but he responds by claiming that he saw his teacher reading pornographic comics on the subway. From there, the teacher’s power over his students is completely ruined; in a later scene, they throw confetti around and write “Ero-Bayashi,” mocking his name, on the blackboard. There’s a hint of conservative nostalgia here, but Tokyo Sonata is more concerned with finding solutions to present-day Japanese dilemmas. For its first eighty minutes, Tokyo Sonata is Kurosawa’s first foray into humanist social realism. One can recognize the same worldview present in all his films, but it’s never been expressed so directly before. His earlier work is much colder. Then, Tokyo Sonata goes off the rails, as the Sasaki family becomes separated and spin off in their own directions. Kurosawa proves himself a master of switching tones, balancing tension and humor ably. He also turns the focus away from Ryuhei to Megumi, showing that a housewife’s life is no easier than that of a laid-off salaryman. In Kurosawa’s earlier work, nuclear families are relatively rare. Instead, he focused on isolated loners, usually played by Koji Yakusho. (Yakusho pops up here in a small but crucial role.) At times, Tokyo Sonata presents a savage vision of family life as a charade that’s long since stopped meaning anything to its participants. Still, Ryuhei proves shockingly capable of violence to defend his nonexistent authority. In the end, Kurosawa has the courage to imagine a path out of chaos. For the first time, he shows the other side of apocalypse. Also, he finally seems to have something in common with earlier Japanese directors like Mikio Naruse and Yasujiro Ozu. (Cure and Charisma were unrecognizable as products of the same culture as Ozu’s Tokyo Story.) Ozu chronicled the changes in Japanese family life  from the ‘30s through the early ‘60s; here, Kurosawa does much the same for present-day Japan, finding hope without compromising the force of his critique. For more Tokyo Sonata, see our interview with Kurosawa from the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/8/30/34564.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 8/30/2008 8:00:26 PM
Body: Jeff Goldblum is at Telluride to promote his new film, Adam Resurrected, directed by Paul Schrader. The film follows the story of a Holocaust survivor who also happens to be a clown. Committed to an asylum after the war, he becomes a ring leader of sorts. On the opening day of the festival Goldblum was graciously hugging young fans and striking odd poses for snap-shots. We got a chance to ask him about his media intake, which includes a substantial amount homework from Schrader. Spout: What movies have you seen and enjoyed lately? Jeff Goldbloom: I’ve gone to the movies theaters recently and saw two movies I really enjoyed. The Woody Allen movie, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, I had a very very good time at that, loved that. Then I saw this documentary called Man on Wire. It’s really, really good, I enjoyed that to no end. Spout: Have you been watching anything lately on television that has compelled you? Goldbloom: The Democratic Convention. Spout: Yes, I see your Obama t-shirt there, that was pretty good stuff. What about on the internet, in terms of reading or watching any video online? Goldbloom: Hhhmm, haven’t seen much of that recently, that I can say. Spout: If you were on a desert island, and you had five pieces of media, they could be books, they could even be websites, they could be movies, to entertain you until your death, and you are all alone, what would you bring with you? Goldbloom: Oh God, very difficult. I’m reading now Talks With Ramana Maharshi, I guess I’d bring that. I like… let me see… let me see… oooooh… oooooh… Spout: What about a movie, a favorite all-time film that you will never get sick of? Goldbloom: How about Rosemary’s Baby, or Being There. I like those movies Paul Schrader suggested I see before we made Adam Resurrected: Rules of the Game, Tokyo Story, l’Eclisse by Antonioni, Masculin Féminin by Godard, Vertigo, his favorite Hitchcock, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul… Spout: That is a great movie, we (FilmCouch) discovered that about a year ago, I don’t know how Paul found it, but it’s incredible. Goldbloom: Yeah, it’s really something. Seven Men from Now, Budd Boetticher, he puts that on his recommended list. Spout: That’s a great list, thanks for your time. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:00:26 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com8/30/2008 8:00:26 PM Jeff Goldblum is at Telluride to promote his new film, Adam Resurrected, directed by Paul Schrader. The film follows the story of a Holocaust survivor who also happens to be a clown. Committed to an asylum after the war, he becomes a ring leader of sorts. On the opening day of the festival Goldblum was graciously hugging young fans and striking odd poses for snap-shots. We got a chance to ask him about his media intake, which includes a substantial amount homework from Schrader. Spout: What movies have you seen and enjoyed lately? Jeff Goldbloom: I’ve gone to the movies theaters recently and saw two movies I really enjoyed. The Woody Allen movie, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, I had a very very good time at that, loved that. Then I saw this documentary called Man on Wire. It’s really, really good, I enjoyed that to no end. Spout: Have you been watching anything lately on television that has compelled you? Goldbloom: The Democratic Convention. Spout: Yes, I see your Obama t-shirt there, that was pretty good stuff. What about on the internet, in terms of reading or watching any video online? Goldbloom: Hhhmm, haven’t seen much of that recently, that I can say. Spout: If you were on a desert island, and you had five pieces of media, they could be books, they could even be websites, they could be movies, to entertain you until your death, and you are all alone, what would you bring with you? Goldbloom: Oh God, very difficult. I’m reading now Talks With Ramana Maharshi, I guess I’d bring that. I like… let me see… let me see… oooooh… oooooh… Spout: What about a movie, a favorite all-time film that you will never get sick of? Goldbloom: How about Rosemary’s Baby, or Being There. I like those movies Paul Schrader suggested I see before we made Adam Resurrected: Rules of the Game, Tokyo Story, l’Eclisse by Antonioni, Masculin Féminin by Godard, Vertigo, his favorite Hitchcock, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul… Spout: That is a great movie, we (FilmCouch) discovered that about a year ago, I don’t know how Paul found it, but it’s incredible. Goldbloom: Yeah, it’s really something. Seven Men from Now, Budd Boetticher, he puts that on his recommended list. Spout: That’s a great list, thanks for your time. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/chesterfilms/archive/2007/5/14/8736.aspx Post By: chesterfilms
Post To: chesterfilms Blog
Post Date: 5/14/2007 2:56:54 AM
Body: I just finished up an Ozu Marathon: A Story Of Floating Weeds (1934), Late Spring (1949), Early Summer (1951), Tokyo Story (1953), Floating Weeds (1959 which was a remake of A Story Of Floating Weeds), and Good Morning (1959). Watching a film by Yasujiro Ozu is like being invited into a Japanese home, and siting and watching life unfold. The common thread to all of Ozu's films is the importance of family. Every film is about family, and even though he is always the optimist, Ozu is able to retell theses stories without an once of cliche or manipulation. There is absolutely no camera movement. No dolly, no pans, no tilts, and yet his composition of each shot keeps you eyes glued to the screen.
]]>Mon, 14 May 2007 06:56:54 GMTchesterfilmschesterfilms Blog5/14/2007 2:56:54 AMI just finished up an Ozu Marathon: A Story Of Floating Weeds (1934), Late Spring (1949), Early Summer (1951), Tokyo Story (1953), Floating Weeds (1959 which was a remake of A Story Of Floating Weeds), and Good Morning (1959). Watching a film by Yasujiro Ozu is like being invited into a Japanese home, and siting and watching life unfold. The common thread to all of Ozu&#39;s films is the importance of family. Every film is about family, and even though he is always the optimist, Ozu is able to retell theses stories without an once of cliche or manipulation. There is absolutely no camera movement. No dolly, no pans, no tilts, and yet his composition of each shot keeps you eyes glued to the screen. http://www.spout.com/blogs/konec/archive/2007/1/21/5060.aspx Post By: konec
Post To: konec Blog
Post Date: 1/21/2007 3:21:00 AM
Body: So, the first movie I've seen since I signed up here. Which means that prior to tonight I've seen approximately 766 movies, not counting anything I forgot. Not sure if that's good or bad or indifferent. So, Tokyo Story. Ozu. Sad sad sad. I sat down expecting to be bored, and for the first few scenes I thought I was in for it. But the movie hooked me, consarn it. Once again, sad. I imagine if I saw it in a decade or two (or five), I'd've been in tears by the end. As I'm a youngin with few life experiences I was just sad. Sad movie. Good movie. I'ma give it five stars if I remember. Gonna see more Ozu too. Maybe even more once I'm old enough. Nice site you have here. A bit slow (does anyone else have this problem?) but I really like the concept. And a lot of the execution. Except the slowness. Tokyo Story is slow too, but I found that didn't bother me after awhile. Maybe the same with this site? Spout as Ozu flick. Maybe. Maybe not.
]]>Sun, 21 Jan 2007 08:21:00 GMTkoneckonec Blog1/21/2007 3:21:00 AMSo, the first movie I've seen since I signed up here. Which means that prior to tonight I've seen approximately 766 movies, not counting anything I forgot. Not sure if that's good or bad or indifferent. So, Tokyo Story. Ozu. Sad sad sad. I sat down expecting to be bored, and for the first few scenes I thought I was in for it. But the movie hooked me, consarn it. Once again, sad. I imagine if I saw it in a decade or two (or five), I'd've been in tears by the end. As I'm a youngin with few life experiences I was just sad. Sad movie. Good movie. I'ma give it five stars if I remember. Gonna see more Ozu too. Maybe even more once I'm old enough. Nice site you have here. A bit slow (does anyone else have this problem?) but I really like the concept. And a lot of the execution. Except the slowness. Tokyo Story is slow too, but I found that didn't bother me after awhile. Maybe the same with this site? Spout as Ozu flick. Maybe. Maybe not. http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/Classic/MemberTagFilms.aspxClassic
Number of films tagged: 816

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