Tokyo Family
Yoji Yamada
The story: An old married couple Shukichi (Isao Hashizume, far right) and Tomiko (Kazuko Yoshiyuki, right) travel to Tokyo to visit their three children. Eldest son Koichi (Masahiko Nishimura) runs a medical clinic, daughter Shigeko (Tomoko Nakajima) runs a neighbourhood hair salon and youngest son Shuji (Satoshi Tsumabuki, right seated) does set design for theatre. When Tomiko visits Shuji’s apartment, she is introduced to his fiancee Noriko (Yu Aoi).

Tokyo Story (1953) is often regarded as Japanese film-maker Yasujiro Ozu’s masterpiece and frequently appears on critics’ list of the greatest films of all time. In the authoritative British film magazine Sight & Sound’s once-every-decade critics’ poll, the black- and-white drama was third in 1992, fifth in 2002 and third again last year.
In other words, it is a daunting film to remake.
Fittingly, the director attempting it is someone of the stature of Yoji Yamada, best known for the long-running series of Tora-san films about a kind-hearted, unlucky-in-love vagabond, a cultural phenomenon spanning 48 films.
Not only that, he had also worked as assistant director on Tokyo Story and calls Ozu his teacher.
Tokyo Family stands on its own, and stands tall.
It was co-written by Yamada and Emiko Hiramatsu and keeps closely to Story in the plot and in terms of tone and sensibility. The focus is on family relationships and everything unfolds unhurriedly as the camera observes unobtrusively.
On the surface, not much happens. An old couple travel to Tokyo to visit their children, who try to fit them into their packed schedules. Quiet moments of interaction speak volumes.
Packed off to a seaside hotel by their oh-so-busy children, the elderly couple soon get bored. Tomiko remarks: “It’s hard to sleep in a wonderful bed like this.” She would rather enjoy the comforting warmth of a bed in her children’s homes.
While daughter Shigeko can be selfish and insensitive, there are no villains here.
Little episodes offer insights into the frustrations of the characters. At one point, Shukichi faces the threat of having nowhere to sleep for a night and ends up getting drunk at a pub with an old friend. He confesses: “What do I have to be happy about?”
There are moments of sweetness as well as when Tomiko stays at Shuji’s place and mother and son share a conversation about their other halves. The character of Shuji is a new addition as Noriko was a widow in the earlier film.
In Story, there was a pointed contrast between the kindness Noriko shows the old couple compared to how their children treat them. This time around, in addition to the Noriko, there is also Shuji. In the end, the unambitious son comes to be appreciated by his outwardly gruff father for his good-hearted nature.
True to the film’s tone, Yamada updates Family with subtle touches to ground it in modern-day Japan – a cab with a GPS navigation system, a Mandarin announcement at the train station to Chinese tourists.
The acting seems at first to be a bit stilted, as if in overt homage to an earlier period of film-making, but it turns out to be a way of marking generational differences in behaviour.
The cast is uniformly good, from Kazuko Yoshiyuki (Departures, 2008) as the sweet mother to Satoshi Tsumabuki (Waterboys, 2001) as the laidback Shuji. They make you feel like you have spent time with an actual family – and make you think about your own.
(ST)