This article will discuss Yasujiro Ozu's "Tokyo Story" in 1953 and the remake of "Tokyo Family" directed by Yamada Yoji in 2013.
In fact, I have always wanted to see Yasujiro Ozu's works. There are many of his films on the to-watch list, and I happened to be in my "Japanese Film Cycle" recently, so I opened it and watched it. "Tokyo Family" is a remake of 2013. Based on this, I was particularly curious about the differences between the two films, so I chose to watch the two films on the same day. And I have to say, watching these two movies together is really not a good idea, and I don't recommend it at all, because it magnifies the shortcomings of the remake. This article will not only talk about my thoughts on the story (the two stories are exactly the same), but also talk about the reasons why the remake can't make me like it at all.
I like "Tokyo Story" very much. Yasujiro Ozu captured the emotions well. Although they were not good at expressing emotions in those days, the director was able to let the emotions hidden in his heart through the screen through the choice of the lens and the performance of the actors. It was conveyed to me that although more than 60 years have passed, it has not diminished the depth of the past.
The story tells that the old couple went from Onomichi City in Hiroshima to Tokyo to visit their two children. However, the busy life of Tokyo people made the old couple feel a lot of emotion, from the original expectation to the last emotion, before and after. Only ten days.
This film can be said to be divided into three parts, first arriving in Tokyo, those days in Tokyo, and returning from Tokyo to my hometown Onomichi.
"Tokyo isn't very far, so it's just a train ride away."
At the beginning of the movie, it is not difficult to see the excitement of the old couple going to Tokyo for the first time. On the one hand, it is the freshness of coming to Tokyo for the first time. On the other hand, it is the children who have not seen each other for a long time. He said, "Tokyo isn't very far, so it's just a train ride away."
At this time in Tokyo, for the two old people, the distance between them is just the actual distance of the long train. It may be far, but the excitement in the heart has shortened the distance a lot. When they first arrived in Tokyo, the two elders lived in the home of their eldest son, Koichi, but the neglect of the two grandsons began to illustrate the emotional changes of the two elders after arriving in Tokyo.
The eldest son is a doctor in a family hospital. He is usually not very busy, and he does not have too many holiday work. However, when the two elders came, the eldest son did not spend any time with them, even on rare holidays when they could travel together. , was also lined up for work. At this time, the two elders began to understand that life in Tokyo was not easy, and everyone worked hard to support their family.
"It took a long drive to get there."
A few days later, they went to the house of their second daughter, who owned a barber shop. The second daughter, Fan, is my least favorite character in the whole film, but she is the most honest and frank person. From her performance, she has been busy with a barber shop that has managed to have a stable business. Always a little bored and disgusted, and later even raised funds with his brother to let the two old people come to Atami for their own leisure and convenience, but not for the parents to visit their children from afar. Although this is my least favorite character, it is undeniable that such children may be more common in the real world, and some children are even more aggressive than Fan.
Later, there was not even a place for the two elders to stay overnight. At this time, the two elders had a short conversation:
"Where is this in Tokyo?"
"On the edge of Tokyo."
"Probably, it took a long drive to get there."
At this time, Tokyo was not just the actual distance for them, but the performance of their children, whether they had no time to take care of them or were unwilling to take care of them, chilled the two elders. Such negative emotions made the distance between Onomichi City and Tokyo even further.
Since both the eldest son and the second daughter were a little embarrassed by the arrival of their parents, the second daughter-in-law, Noriko, was willing to arrange work just to take the two elders to visit Tokyo. All their performances were very thoughtful and gentle. The happiest night.
However, although the two elders finally felt some warmth in Tokyo, this is even more contradictory and ironic. Does the closer the people get closer as time goes by?
"I probably won't go to Tokyo again. Tokyo is really far away."
Perhaps I had already noticed that this trip to Tokyo could be regarded as a goodbye trip planned by the grandmother. After seeing all the relatives she missed, she passed away on the way back to Onomichi City, so the family reunited again, but the location was changed to where her parents were. of Onomichi City.
However, as the location shifts, the selfishness of the children can be seen more clearly; when the whole family reunites unhappily in Tokyo, both the elders and the audience can try to convince themselves that the children’s unwillingness to accompany is because The busy life in Tokyo is too busy to take care of, but when I came to Onomichi City, apart from not seeing the sadness that I felt because of the passing of my mother, the conversation at the dinner table was all about the distribution of property, and planning the time to go back to Tokyo, until the end. His children all used the excuse of being busy with their careers and inconvenient to stay for a long time, leaving their father alone to return to Tokyo early, while Noriko, who has no blood relationship, once again lined up all the work, just to spend more time with the lost grandpa.
At this time, the old man said without any emotion: "I probably won't go to Tokyo again in this life. Tokyo is really far away."
The youngest daughter, Kyoko, who saw all this in her eyes, was angry and puzzled by her brother's actions, and complained angrily to Noriko who stayed behind. Noriko listened quietly to Kyoko talking about the grievances in her heart, and at this time the audience's emotions would be stirred up by it. After all, Kyoko was just talking about the grievances and injustices in the audience's heart that lasted for two hours.
However, at this time, Noriko said gently: In fact, she completely understands their changes, because after marriage, everyone has their own life, and the relationship with their parents will naturally become farther and farther, although this is not the result we want. , but it is unavoidable because it is a natural phenomenon. So instead of complaining, it's better to do what you can do, just like Noriko, she doesn't blame everyone, but chooses to do what she should do.
I liked Noriko's answer very much. She made me understand that a person's tenderness is often not to be publicized. It is internalized in the body. Through words and actions, that warmth flows between people.
Turning the viewer's injustice into understanding through Noriko is the reason why I like this movie. Sometimes we feel unhappy about things that we are not used to seeing, but in fact it is everyone's own choice, we can choose Just do what you have to do. Just like this film, about two-thirds of the length of the film allows the viewer to see through the selfishness of people, but in the last third of the part, through the role of Ji Zi, the viewer turns from resentment at the beginning to understanding, but this does not On behalf of Yasujiro Ozu, he supports the selfishness of human nature. Instead, he gave us a suggestion to let us understand that "selfishness" is a normal state, and it is often difficult for us to change in the face of normalcy. Only by changing ourselves can we be more comfortable in such a world. live.
Through the last conversation between Noriko and the old grandfather, I also saw such an understanding. The old grandfather, like Noriko, saw through the selfishness of human nature, and watched all this happen calmly, because this is the normal state, and it is a constant in this world. Since it is impossible to change the "truth" of the world, the only way to live a comfortable life is to let yourself see things more openly.
The story of "Tokyo Story" is probably as mentioned above, and it is indeed a work worth watching; however, with the same story, the remake version of "Tokyo Family" directed by Yamada Yoji in 2013 could not make me like.
One is that there is nothing new in the same story structure, which makes me unable to understand the reason for the remake. Moreover, in the remake version, I cannot see the original temperature, and a movie without temperature is a big no-no for me.
The second is that, apart from the almost identical story structure, director Yoji Yamada even tried to imitate Yasujiro Ozu's camera movement. I can understand the reason for wanting to imitate. After all, the story was almost directly moved to the remake in 2013. A tribute, but the mirror movement method after the imitation not only did not accurately convey the original temperature, but even because of the addition of director Yoji Yamada's own mirror movement habits, the effect after the imitation became too deliberate, which also made my movie viewing experience. Very uncomfortable.
Third, although the stories have moved almost in parallel, the spirit of the stories has largely disappeared. Kiko, played by Hara Setsuko, occupies a very important position in this story. The setting of this role is nothing more than to make people understand the "inevitability" that is not so correct in this society in a gentle way, but in the remake of Yamada Yoji , Noriko played by Yu Aoi has become a very redundant character in this story, not only did not meet the requirements set by the original character, but I couldn't even see a little warmth in the remake. Maybe Director Yoji Yamada had an idea he wanted to convey, but I didn't see it, but in such a situation, I don't understand the meaning of the parallel transplant story even more.
Based on the above three points, after watching Ozu Yasujiro's "Tokyo Story" and Yamada Yoji's "Tokyo Family" on the same day, I really can't like the remake version, but it may be different if I watch it separately after a while But at least so far "Tokyo Story" is a movie I want to watch again, and "Tokyo Family" is a movie I won't want to watch again in a long time.
View more about Tokyo Story reviews
