“One of cinema’s greatest masterpieces.” (Film Comment)

Loosely based it on the relatively obscure 1937 American film MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW, director Yasujirō Ozu‘s TOKYO STORY was initially released in Japan in 1953, to little attention. It was initially considered “too Japanese” to be marketable abroad, but in the years since, the film (which tells the story of an aged couple who venture to the city to visit their children and grandchildren) has grown in its acclaim. Today, TOKYO STORY, a sensitive study of the frustrations and dis-illusionments accompanying the onslaught of old age, is widely considered to be Ozu’s masterpiece; in 2012 was voted the best film of all time in a poll of film directors by Sight & Sound magazine.

The elderly Shukishi (Chishū Ryū) and his wife, Tomi (Chieko Higashiyama), take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi (Sô Yamamura), a doctor, and their daughter, Shige (Haruko Sugimura), a hairdresser, don’t have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko (Setsuko Hara), the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.

“This remains one of the most approachable and moving of all cinema’s masterpieces.” (Time Out)

“It ennobles the cinema. It says, yes, a movie can help us make small steps against our imperfections.” (Roger Ebert)

Monday, August 7
Doors 5:30 pm | Movie 6:00 pm

Tickets $10 advance HERE | $12 at the door

*Minors OK in the balcony! Must be 19 w/ID for bar service and main floor seating.
**Groupons and passes OK! Please redeem at the door.

TOKYO STORY “Tokyo Monogatari” (Yasujirō Ozu, 1953 / 136 mins / G / In Japanese with English subs) An old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city, but the children have little time for them.