Tokyo Story

Director: Yasujirô Ozu

Year: 1953

The setup is small, simple and heart-breakingly familiar: two aging parents plan to visit their somewhat estranged children. Though this film was released in 1953 and is very much affected by post WWII Japan, it is astounding how universal and relevant it feels 60 years later an ocean apart. 

The children have varying levels of respect and tolerance for their parents when they arrive. They are all busy, reminding me of the second half of Cat Stevens' song "Cat's in the Cradle". As the story progresses, stark and almost shocking conversations are had between old friends, family and in laws - in one case by the widow of the parent's son who died in the war. Her lasting devotion to her widow, dead eight years at the time the parents visit her, is on the one hand comforting and on another painful for the parents. They plead with her to let him and his memory go and get married again. She must experience love in her life again to have it mean anything, warns her mother in law. 

As a filmmaker, I've made a dedication to my parents in two separate features. One from the standpoint of a young man trying to find himself and, in that, respect for and acceptance from his parents. The other is a veritable love letter to my dad, exploring our relationship against other fathers and sons via the lens of baseball and road trips. Even with the time and dedication I've given to and shown my parents, I have a great feeling of sadness about the time when I lose them. It is inevitable. As one of the sons repeats hauntingly at the end of the film, admitting he's not been the son he wished he had, "none can serve his parents beyond the grave"