Tokyo Story is a quiet, sad, indescribably beautiful family story: it tells of a journey that does not fulfill its promise, of a life that breaks down and falls apart in the face of modern civilization.
Director: Yasujirō Ozu, Japan 1953, 137 minutes, 35mm, Japanese
original version with German subtitles
Once again, the great traditionalist delves into the ultimate depths of his theme, which deals with ageing, dying, renunciation and failure; the sentence "Yes, it's true, when you lose yourself, you can only ever look for each other and you still won't find each other" seems like a program.
Ozu seeks refuge from the fleetingness of experience and the present in perfection, with crystal-clear and yet unfathomable images whose vanishing point points to infinity and whose precision can at best be compared to that of Robert Bresson. With his calm shots, this surprising figure in film history makes the greatest dramas, the most hidden human emotions palpable." Bruno Jaeggi, Basler Zeitung, 5.7.1983
In the supporting program: All My Life
Director: Bruce Baillie, USA 1966, 3 minutes, 16mm, without dialog
