○ Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story (1953)
Ozu's Tokyo Story was filmed in 1953 against the backdrop of a post-war war when the old couple missed their children in Tokyo and took a night train to visit. The eldest opens a clinic, the second opens a beauty shop, day by day, the old two squeeze in the old man's house for a night, but the grandson complains that he can't review his homework... Shortly after returning home, the old lady died, the children rushed to the funeral, and between the conversations, everyone did not realize that the old father had moved to the outdoors in loneliness.
After watching "Tokyo Story", I know the approximate sequence of Ozu's works, not that he repeats himself, but that he is a filmmaker who constantly explores meaning in the field of family ethics.
Through the film, it is not difficult to find the essence of the social changes in post-war Japan that Ozu is most concerned about, that is, the irreparable decadence of the traditional family ethics in the process of modernization, which is similar to the situation in China today.
Let's first look at the symbolic meaning of the film. Tokyo, relative to the countryside where the old couple lived, represents both the future and the ideal of the place of residence, but also the concentration and destination of modernization, which is also the "same dream" of the Japanese people after the war, but the beautiful legend of the eldest son "opening a hospital" is now replaced by the cruel reality of the small clinic, and also conveys A world view of Ozu, the so-called "ideal", inevitably mixed with a lot of "paper paste truth".
And modern life, in Ozu's view, is at best a "busy" word, children are busy with homework, adults are busy with livelihood, the street is a hurried passerby and endless commercial posters, two old people are destined to be superfluous in this situation, the only thing that maintains their relationship with this strange society should be family affection, but Ozu has recorded the withdrawal of the value of family affection with the camera, and the children actually have no time to accompany, the reason is, "After a day of closure, business is more difficult to do..."
Of course, the children later invited the elderly to go to Atami for a vacation, which is still a new expression of family affection, but ironically, the old man's lodging place is sleepless all night because it is separated from the song hall (one of the symbols of modern life), because the children pay the economic price point fee, which means that in their view, the payment used to express family affection needs to be cost-effective, which is Ozu's insight into the truth of modern family affection.
In this way, the disintegration of the traditional family concept is inevitably too rapid, but Ozu still gives his remedy, when the blood affection fades out, but the third daughter-in-law still carries the traditional residual virtues, first of all, she has no regrets about the eight years of widowhood, and then she took a day off to accompany the old man on a tour of Tokyo, and at the funeral, she expressed her willingness to stay alone with her father-in-law to talk about family life, Ozu finally only found a family release in the relationship between non-blood relatives.
Ozu's films, the space is always the home of ordinary people, the characters are always or hard-working young and middle-aged citizens, or lonely in the old situation of good parents, things are just people coming and going, weddings and funerals, and the worldly scenes that unfold with it, there are no great joys and sorrows, only small details are presented, it is just a cup of bitter tea, take a sip, taste self-knowledge. The decadent tang realm of the middle-aged and elderly people is quietly displayed with the gestures of the characters, a smile, so the aftertaste is endless.
"Tokyo Story" is different from Ozu's late works in the cleanliness and static style, and with the strong breath of life dynamic depiction to win, although the placement of low lenses, the use of static mirrors also has a considerable share, but that is determined by the content of the work, is the elderly perspective to see the urban children and grandchildren when the inner world of the desolate reproduction, which contains the old way of life represented by the elderly and the descendants of the descendants of the post-war economic recovery period of japan's new generation of a certain contradiction relationship, is the traditional way of home and family appeal to the collapse of the internal causes of the dissection.
In this way, we understand why the peaceful traditional home scene in Ozu's mind is always disturbed and squeezed by the tall chimneys of the emerging industrial area that are constantly inserted into the picture, and on this level, the film has indeed become so deep that no one can avoid it, it is stinging, and it is difficult to calm the inner waves, and a seemingly quiet film can be so powerful that Ozu's kung fu can be seen.
Look at the symbolic color of the plot. The awkward situation of the second elder during his time in Tokyo can be understood as a fatalistic status of "tradition"—they have actually been expelled in Tokyo, which is the reality of the deteriorating "tradition".
The old man said, "Now we are finally homeless," which is not a simple drunken self-deprecation. The death of the old mother hints at the fragmentation of traditional culture after the collision of traditional culture and the trend of the times, the attitude of the two grandsons to the ancestors, perhaps Aozu's prediction of the ignorant and rude new generation, and the continuation of the affection of the third daughter-in-law, in the final analysis, is just a helpless assumption of Ozu.
If even this soil collapses together, how will Ozu, as a defender of tradition, and his worldview stand? This assumption, or hope, may point to the tragic origin of the film.
At the end of the film, the old mother's bones are not cold, and the children who are running to the funeral are already busy talking about the topic of the return night train, how can there be a little sadness? Tao Yuanming's "Proposed Elegy" Yun: "I have always sent people to each other, and each of them returned his home." Relatives or grief, others have also sung. Dead Ho Dao, to the body of the same mountain. "It is precisely the child in "Tokyo Story" who is the first to dispel the sadness on his own, which is the real chilling modern style, which is why the old man's lonely face the Seto Inland Sea sitting is so shocking.
Tokyo's Past, Mixed With Sorrow and Joy – Talking About Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story