Tokyo Family (2013)
THE SCOOP
Director: Yoji Yamada
Cast: Yû Aoi, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Yui Natsukawa, Isao Hashizume
Cast: Yû Aoi, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Yui Natsukawa, Isao Hashizume
Plot: An old married couple Shukichi Hirayama and Tomiko live on a small island in the Inland Sea. They go to Tokyo to visit their children.
Genre: Drama
Awards: -
Runtime: 146min
Rating: PG
IN RETROSPECT (Spoilers: NO)
Yoji
Yamada was an assistant to the late Yasujiro Ozu when the latter made Tokyo Story (1953), the film that has
now achieved a synonymic relationship with the legendary director of numerous
masterpieces such as Late Spring
(1949), Floating Weeds (1959) and An Autumn Afternoon (1962), among many
others.
Tokyo Family,
largely a direct homage to Ozu's timeless classic, is an excellent film, a
solid contemporary update on a universal, humanist screen text that continues
to resonate with those introspective enough to realize the hard truths embedded
within it. Now or back then, there is no
particular difference – the narrative of the source material still translates
well across a new architectural space and time.
On
its own, Tokyo Family is an
accomplished drama, albeit slightly lengthy.
It is a full ten minutes longer than Ozu’s work, but that does not make
it any less engaging. Yamada takes his
time to develop the characters, and while there is a sense of familiarity,
there is also a feeling of strangeness.
The strangeness of witnessing the narrative unfold with a kind of
inevitability in a new setting, at least for those who have seen Tokyo Story.
There
are references to the modern calamities Japan has faced in recent years, both
natural and man-made, making Yamada’s film immediately relevant and especially
hard-hitting in scenes of Shukichi (the grandfather played by Isao Hashizume)
drinking in the sake bar with a companion, and when he pays tribute to an old
friend who has passed.
It
appears that nothing has changed between a post-war Japan undergoing
industrialization in the 1950s and the Japan that is today. Issues of the erosion of inter-generational
ties, the struggles to survive in an (already) modernized society, and a
fatalistic resignation towards life remain pertinent in Tokyo Family.
It
is appropriately emotional, and for some, a tear-jerker in the vein of the
melodramatic Oscar-winning Departures (2008) and also a number of Yamada’s recent family-oriented
works including Kabei: Our Mother (2008)
and About Her Brother (2010). The music by the great Joe Hisaishi
underscores the emotions with a balance of subtlety and restrain, a startling contrast
to what he did for Departures, which
overwhelmed (and sometimes manipulated) the viewer.
Tokyo Family is
recommended viewing for all. While it
cannot be compared to the incomparable Tokyo
Story, just like if there ever was a remake of Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) or 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), it will always be in the shadow of
Leone’s and Kubrick’s works respectively, Yamada’s ode to Ozu is ultimately
reverent and genuine. It is also with
hope that viewers who have not seen any of Ozu’s films will be encouraged to do
so… and be forever enlightened.
Verdict: Yoji Yamada does no wrong paying direct
homage to Ozu's masterpiece in this solid contemporary update.
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