At first glance, Yasujirō Ozu’s Tokyo Story (1953) seems like a simple film. The story is about an elderly couple visiting their children in Tokyo and contrasts the behavior of their dismissive children with that of their widowed daughter-in-law. Despite the simple premise, Tokyo Story‘s narrative is quite compelling, and the way it’s expressed is through space.
An element of Tokyo Story I find interesting is with it’s regard to spatial movement. The camera in this film is static. This is quite typical of Ozu films, and moments, where the camera is moving, are quite rare. A modern film audience might find this slow going, but I would refer to it as meditative. Ozu’s films were about everyday life and dealt with issues about family disillusionment and generational conflict. There’s a melancholic tone expressed through these static shots. I think the lack of complex camera movement in Tokyo Story is meant to invite the viewer into the scene and focus on these everyday interpersonal issues.
Ozu’s signature pillow shot serves a temporal purpose in the overall narrative of Tokyo Story. A pillow shot is a shot devoid of “humans” that acts as a cushion between segments of narrative action. Ozu uses this technique in order to transition into the next scene, deliberately omitting sections of the story. The parent’s visiting their son, Keizō, in Osaka and the beginning of the mother’s illness are events the viewer doesn’t see. Why does Ozu omit sections of the narrative? I think Ozu does this in order to highlight the feeling of impermanence felt throughout the film. Human experiences are fleeting and thus Ozu treats it as such.
The tatami shot serves a psychological purpose when it comes expressing space in Tokyo Story. Ozu’s tatami shot refers to a low angle shot where the camera is placed waist high and the characters are sitting on tatami mat floors. This shot puts the viewer on the same level as the characters making them easier to sympathize with. All throughout the movie, the children were too busy to attend to their visiting parents, but Ozu doesn’t rebuke them for their actions. Tokyo is just too big for them, the expectations placed on them by both parents and society necessitated this behavior. Seeing these characters on the ground going about their day makes them pitiable. It’s this interaction they have with space combined with the excellent composition, that makes this film extremely personable.
Yasujirō Ozu’s Tokyo Story uses its interaction with space to tell a simple, but unique story about disillusionment. The slow pacing and the lack of complex camera movements all contribute to a somber film that doesn’t feel contrived. It’s a film about the human condition, its joys, and its sorrows, it’s a film only Yasujirō Ozu could make.
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