By Anealla Safdar, Digital Department, DFI

Film: Tokyo Story (Tokyo Monogatari)
Director: Yasujiro Ozu

Starring: Setsuko Hara, Chieko Higashiyama, Chishu Ryu, Haruko Sugimura,
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 136 mins
Language: Japanese with English and Arabic subtitles

Considered a cinematic masterpiece, late director Yasujiro Ozu’s “Tokyo Story” is a deeply affecting tale of an ageing couple’s visit to see their four children.

In black and white and with a usually motionless camera, Ozu followed an unforgettable holiday of father and mother Shukishi and (Chishu Ryu) and Tomi Hirayama (Chieko Higashiyama) from the seaside to the city.

“It’s like a dream being in Tokyo,” says Tomi, having arrived by train; one which quickly becomes a nightmare.

The partners’ children become frustrated with having to entertain. Their eldest daughter Shige is particularly disdainful (Haruko Sugimura) – a testament to the actress’ portrayal of the character – and tries shipping them off to a resort, encourages her brother to buy them cheaper food and uses her widowed sister-in-law Noriko (Setsuko Hara) as a local tour guide.

The dignified, timid and unassuming Hirayama seniors never vocalise their pain, but events often result in their heads simultaneously pointing south as they realise their children have become utterly egocentric. It takes 122 minutes until a family member uses the word ‘selfish’.

Noriko, however, is a doting daughter-in-law; they share a gentle bond over their lost husband and son. Contrast, instead of overpowering dialogue and drama, is the main storytelling tool.

Themes of regret, bereavement, friendship and family are explored slowly, but never painfully so, in this gripping journey. Sixty years have passed since this film was made. Its meaning is timeless.

“Tokyo Story” facts:

• “Tokyo Story” has a rating of 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes based on 38 critics
• Screenwriter Kogo Noda and Ozu spent 103 days working on the script
• Ozu never married and lived with his mother all of his life
• In Ozu’s words, the film described “how the Japanese family system has begun to come apart.”

Doha Film Institute and Qatar Museums Authority will screen “Tokyo Story” (original title: “Tokyo Monogatari”) this week on Wednesday and Thursday (25 and 26 July) at the Museum of Islamic Art, as part of the Qatar Japan initiative. Some proceeds will go to Reach Out to Asia. For tickets: https://www.dohafilminstitute.com/films/tokyo-story