Tokyo vs Hollywood: The Forms of Realism

Tokyo Stories (also known as Tôkyô Monogatari) is a Japanese film directed by Yasujiro Ozu. The film was originally released in 1953, and differs greatly from the realism we would expect from a Hollywood classic made in that same decade. The story centers around the journey of an elderly couple (Shukishi and Tomi) who travels to Tokyo to visit their children (Shige and Koichi) and their widowed daughter-in-law (Noriko). The children feel obligated to entertain their parents, but were busy with their own lives. Eventually, the couple comes to realize that they are a burden to their kids and decides to return home. Though the film demonstrates some qualities that can also be seen in Hollywood realism, they were conveyed in a foreign style that introduced a new approach.

Tokyo Stories tells a story that is so common and ordinarily simple that it is rarely seen on screen. Unlike some of the other classic Japanese storylines which revolve around Samurais and wars, Tokyo Stories is a classic that deals with the relatable genre of family drama. In some ways, it almost resembles Japanese minimalistic art, where the artists strive for simplicity and subtlety. The lack of sophistication and the simplistic narrative itself were used as a tool to captivate realism. Though the plot is rich with dramatic soap opportunities, Ozu focused more on the details of the character's lifestyles and chose not to incorporate any thrilling situations that one would expect from a Hollywood classic. This particular realism is what made the film heartfelt and compelling. The story gave up excitement in order to instill emotional responses within the audience. Many of the major events mentioned in the film were never shown on screen (For example, Tomi’s illness that occurred during their return journey). Regardless, Ozu was still able to deliver the emotional continuity without constructing all the plain occurrences that happen in between.

The continuity editing in Tokyo Stories is also very different from the conventions of Hollywood continuity. The 180 rule which Hollywood filmmakers so strictly comply with due to it’s ability to bring forth a sense of continuity realism through juxtaposition is, to a certain extent, ignored by Ozu. However, this consistency between the shots was not lost in vain. In terms of cinematography, the film simply wanted to convey realism in a different way. There were little camera movements and many noticeable subjective camera work. For example, the low angle shots that were used during indoor scenes provides the audience with the sense of actually being there, sitting on a tatami mat. While Hollywood classics adhered to the cinematic establishment that is the use of a constant stream of continuous shots to convey realism, Tokyo Stories was more concerned with portraying the character development and story progression in a way that served the film best thematically.