Tokyo Monogatari

Hi Aki,

I ordered Tokyo Monogatari again so my dad could see it. What a shame they don’t have a restored print. It was Criterion Collection dvd, with commentary too, so they digitized the best print available. Maybe the original negatives are gone, such a shame.

I was noticing more little things. It really is a wonderful movie. No Hollywood movie today would spend a minute as the old guy says, ‘Where’s the air cushion?’ and the old wife says, ‘I can’t find it.’ ‘Well you had it…oh here it is.’ The actual scene goes on much longer than that, and is broken when the neighbor woman comes by to wish them bon voyage to Tokyo.

Also the daughter Shige (Haruko Sugimura), I never used to like her as performer, now I like her more and more. And I hated her character in this movie, I think we are supposed to dislike her, but I saw more of her strong, good side – she’s practical after all, and takes precautions, and so on. it’s easy to side with the sentimental ones, and dislike the practical ones, but somebody has to be practical. She was kind of acting like the head of the household after mama died.

Really one of Ozu’s best, I must concur. The critique is so gentle and soft.

No, I take it back about Ozu’s critique of the new Japanese generation in the movie. It might be more pointed than I thought. After all the youngest daughter explicitly in her only big speech, complains about her big sister’s attitude. And ‘good girl’ daughter-in-law Setsuko Hara defended big sis, saying, ‘I thought like you when I was young, but the truth is, women when they get older grow apart from their parents, and even you will end up thinking like her.’ But Kyoko the youngest daughter says, ‘I will never be like her, I don’t believe it!’

And I do think we are supposed to be boiling with anger against the 2 sons and big sis for the way they treat their parents.

I still have to listen to the commentary. But I must say, I’m a bit annoyed at the Criterion company: all the commentors on the Ozu disks are American, or British. where’s the Japanese commentary? I was very interested in what the French woman had to say about the Melville movies, and she knew what was going on in France both when the movies were made, and during the period they were set. Some guy from Georgia isn’t going to know how most families were really like in Tokyo 1953, would he?

(written around 22 February 2009)