Tokyo Story Notes

Tokyo Story Notes:

-Ozu's compositions favor balance as opposed to confrontation; informs the dynamics of relationships between characters (as evidenced by characters sitting next to each other rather than across from each other)

-differences expressed through subtlety rather than drama; interested in how individuals behave in their day-to-day lives and in the subtle details in the ways in which humans live their lives and repress their emotions; keeps plots down so that characters can rise

-conveys themes like the inexorability (and universality) of change, transience (exemplified through images of smoke rising from the chimneys in Tokyo and diffusing into the air), isolation and abandonment (shown when couple prepares to depart from Tokyo and are overwhelmed by the city's size), the disparity between expectation and reality, the complexity of the conflict between the acceptance of one's fate and the willfulness (strong individuality) of one's character, emotional ambivalence and the reconciliation of such ambivalence, the inevitable sense of disappointment and ambivalence that one may feel toward life (ambivalence furthered by complexity of characters and situations, as there are no simple or straightforward answers to questions that confront characters in their daily existences), dailiness and the unalterable movements of life, the vicissitudes of life and of time, the ability to come to terms with life in spite of the disappointments that one feels

-emphasizes that the niceties of everyday discourse (keeping within the bounds of social proprieties and conventions in daily conversation) that in one sense mask our underlying tensions (conflicts and problems both personal and interpersonal) by not confronting them directly but in another sense help to assuage these problems and lessen their impact; cannot articulate mutual feelings of resentment and anger but must disguise the truth partially in the interests of preventing long-term discord over what may merely be ephemeral sentiments; social niceties smooth over rough patches; a great deal is at stake in normal social discourse; add a sense of normalcy to our daily lives; tension between remaining nice (to the extent of being socially acceptable) and revealing true feelings (expressed in the interactions between parents and children before the old couple departs from Tokyo); although nobody is perfect, individuals who genuinely care for others and who can examine themselves with honesty are far preferably than those individuals who merely mouth the accepted social shibboleths

-labeling Ozu as a Buddhist filmmaker would be to reduce works to abstract or cultural essentialism (pigeonholes Ozu's cinema by using a sweeping generalization) and would not account for the complexity and breadth of Ozu's artistic vision

-significance of intermediate spaces; signify transitions and establish mood

-penchant for using all available space in a scene

-ellipsis and delay inform the plot development (particularly in later scenes of the film)

-circularity and continuity of narrative with subtle changes; the end of the film signifies a rebirth

-themes of transience and mutability supported by ambient background sounds

-specificities and markers of authorship seen not only in the content of the film (e.g. the use of tatami shots) but in the structural elements of the film as well (e.g. the use of similar credit sequences in films)

-investment in dailiness allows individuals to overcome sadness and grief; dailiness, ordinariness, and acceptance of life's sadness permit individuals to transcend grief and loss; ordinariness remembered in nostalgia

-central themes of transience, mutability, and the sense of the ever-changing-ness of things are reinforced in recurring images of smoke rising from chimneys, boats sailing through the harbor, children walking to and from school (children also function as symbols of continuity), and clothes hanging from a line; although images of the daily and the ordinary, repetition imbues them with drama of change

-mutual, unspoken recognition of the sweet sadness of life in the film's final scenes express the intertwining of happiness and grief; although delight and sorrow are combined, feelings of the temporariness also are acknowledged

-Ozu's cinema, like all great art, reconciles us to the lives that we lead and to the reality that we have been given and helps us to understand that our plight is universal

For the IMDb entry for Tokyo Story, click here